The House (poem) Quizzes

The House (poem) Quiz

1 What was the name of Warsan Shire's first poetry collection?

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth

Her Blue Body

Lemonade

Extreme Girlhood
2 Where was Warsan Shire born?

Somalia

England

America

Kenya
3 Which of these themes is "The House" NOT about?

Memory

Love

Migration

Sexual abuse
4 What happens to the character Johnny in "The House"?

He calls God through the window but receives no answer

He sneaks into the speaker's house and ends up chained in the basement

He breaks into the basement of dreams

He wakes up in a bathtub full of ice
5 Which of Warsan Shire's poems went viral first?

River of Milk

Backwards

The House

For Women Who are Difficult to Love
6 What is the name of Warsan Shire's audio-poetry album on Bandcamp?

warsan versus melancholy

Her Blue Body

Lemonade

The House
7 Warsan Shire was the Younger Poet Laureate of...

Los Angeles

Nairobi

Mogadishu

London
8 Shire edits which magazine...?

Diode

SPOOK

Ebony

Honeysuckle
9 Shire is often called a voice for...

Diaspora

Radicalism

Christianity

Pacifism
10 From where does "The House" get its title?

From something the speaker's father said

From something the speaker thought of

From something the speaker's mother said

From something the speaker's first love said
11 "The House" uses what form to separate its stanzas?

Numbers

Letters

Roman numerals

Bullet points
12 The sentence "Nin soo joog laga waayo, soo jiifso aa laga helaa" is in what language?

Afrikaans

Xhosa

Zulu

Somali
13 What is an example of a motif in "The House"?

The house

The apple

The kitchen of lust

The jam jar
14 The phrase "new, neat procedure" is likely referring to...

A birth

A sex change

Castration

A murder
15 Near the end of the poem the speaker is questioned by whom...

A teacher

A true love

A social worker

A police officer
16 Which is an example of a motif in "The House"?

The house as a feminine body

The bathtub

Johnny's bottle of bleach

The narrator's mother's warnings
17 What is one of Warsan Shire's main poetic subjects?

The American dream

Queerness and gender identification

The trappings of ambition

Diaspora and displacement
18 What is the function of humor in "The House"?

It manages the darkness of what the narrator is saying

It represents the narrator's desire to connect with others

It adds lightness to contrast the poem's heaviness

It is a way of making other people laugh
19 Warsan Shire's poetry was featured in which of these in 2016?

The Museum of Modern Art

The Nuyorican's slam poetry finals

Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer

Beyoncé's Lemonade
20 Warsan Shire was born in what year?

1963

1984

1997

1988

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Study Guide for The House (poem)

The House (poem) study guide contains a biography of Warsan Shire, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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