Read the two poems by Emily Dickinson.

I Started Early — Took my Dog


I started Early – Took my Dog –
And visited the Sea –
The Mermaids in the Basement
Came out to look at me –

And Frigates – in the Upper Floor
Extended Hempen Hands –
Presuming Me to be a Mouse –
Aground – opon the Sands –

But no Man moved Me – till the Tide
Went past my simple Shoe –
And past my Apron – and my Belt
And past my Boddice – too –

And made as He would eat me up –
As wholly as a Dew
Opon a Dandelion's Sleeve –
And then – I started – too –

And He – He followed – close behind –
I felt His Silver Heel
Opon my Ancle – Then My Shoes
Would overflow with Pearl –

Until We met the Solid Town –
No One He seemed to know –
And bowing – with a Mighty look –
At me – The Sea withdrew –


Apparently with No Surprise


Apparently with no surprise
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at it’s play –
In accidental power –
The blonde Assassin passes on –
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God –

Question 1
Part A

Consider Dickinson’s poems "I Started Early—Took My Dog" and “Apparently with No Surprise.”

Which topic do the two poems share?


the continual cycle of night and day

the joy to be found in the unexpected

nature’s indifference to human emotions

nature’s mythical creatures
Question 2
Part B

What evidence from the poems supports the answer to Part A?

Select the two correct answers.


“The Mermaids in the Basement / Came out to look at me—"

“The blonde Assassin passes on— / The Sun proceeds unmoved”

“Apparently with no surprise / To any happy Flower”

“And made as He would eat me up— / As wholly as a Dew”