since feeling is first Quizzes

since feeling is first Quiz

1 Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of "since feeling is first"?
Love is but an illusion.

You must be conscious of the consequences of your actions.

Wisdom is the highest virtue.

Both in love and in life, you must prioritize feeling over thinking.
2 What does "syntax" stand for in the poem?
Reason

Emotion

Inefficiency

Love
3 Why is the person "who pays any attention to the syntax of things" unable to "wholly kiss" the addressee?
Because this person is too emotional for the addressee

Because a kiss requires feeling, and this person prioritizes reason over feeling

Because this person has a short attention span

Because the addressee dislikes people who study syntax and grammar
4 Which of the following best describes the form and meter of this poem?
Blank verse

Free verse

Ballad meter

Sonnet
5 Which of the following is not a major theme of this poem?
Love

Life and death

Religion

Language
6 Which of the following does NOT contain an example of alliteration or consonance?
“eyelids’ flutter”

"laugh, leaning”

“feeling is first”

“death i think is no parenthesis”
7 What is ironic about this poem?
We know, but the speaker does not, that this love is going to fail.

Cummings uses syntax to write this poem.

The speaker does not actually love the addressee.

It is not actually about feeling.
8 Which of the following best describes the structure of this poem?
Loose; resisting a narrative structure

Heavily based on repetition

Evocative of the structure of another poem

Following a linear narrative
9 Which of the following is a personification?
"kisses are a better fate"

“my blood approves"

"i swear by all flowers"

"life's not a paragraph"
10 Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the tone of the speaker?
Assertive

Pessimistic

Philosophical

Affectionate
11 Which of the following best describes the setting of the poem?
Urban

Unspecified, abstract

Intergalactic

Pastoral
12 Which of the following is not an example of synecdoche in this poem?
"Spring is in the world"

“my brain”

“my blood”

“your eyelids’”
13 "Spring" symbolize which of the following?
War, violence, and discord

Fertility, vitality, and youth

Death, trauma, and pain

Aging, senility, and vulnerability
14 Which of the following is NOT a symbolic meaning that "flowers" may have in this poem?
Artificiality

Nature

Fertility

Ephemerality
15 Which of the following best describes the word play between "Spring" and "blood"?
"Blood" can "spring" forth.

Hot water "springs" are good for "blood" circulation.

"Spring" is a "bloody" season.

The speaker is trying to be resilient like a "spring" after witnessing "bloodshed" and violence.
16 What does the speaker mean when they say "death i think is no parenthesis"?
Death is not something we should keep in mind in everyday life.

Death is something that can be ignored.

Death is an inevitable part of the human experience.

What happens after death is a mystery.
17 How is the lady's attitude different from that of the speaker?
She believes in logic and reason.

She is more aggressive.

She is more religious.

She is less optimistic.
18 "since feeling is first" was published in which of the following books?
Tulips & Chimneys

The Enormous Room

EIMI

is 5
19 In what year was this poem published?
1936

1926

1916

1946
20 Which of the following best describes the collection in which this poem was published?
Kitsch and cheesy

Traditional and conforming

Experimental and unconventional

Violent and gory
21 Which of the following is an example of mathematical language within the poem?
"we are for each other"

"[...] is less than [...]"

"wholly to be a fool"

"i swear by all flowers"
22 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "wholly" in the poem?
It is evocative of the word "holy."

It is used in an alliteration.

It evokes a sense of holiness and sacredness in addition to perfection.

It is repeated twice.
23 "the best gesture of my brain is less than / your eyelids’ flutter" is an example of which of the following?
Alliteration

Personification

Asyndeton

Synecdoche
24 "laugh, leaning back in my arms / for life’s not a paragraph" does NOT contain which of the following?
Synecdoche

Sarcasm

Metaphor

Alliteration
25 Which of the following INCORRECTLY describes the use of the word "paragraph" in this poem?
It is parallel to the word "parenthesis" in the subsequent line.

It is antithetical to the word "syntax" in an earlier stanza.

It may symbolize the simplicity of linguistic constructs.

It may symbolize the artificiality of linguistic constructs.

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