The House (poem) Quizzes

The House (poem) Quiz

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

Extreme Girlhood

Lemonade

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth
2 Where was Warsan Shire born?
America

England

Kenya

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

Memory

Migration

Sexual abuse
4 What happens to the character Johnny in "The House"?
He sneaks into the speaker's house and ends up chained in the basement

He calls God through the window but receives no answer

He wakes up in a bathtub full of ice

He breaks into the basement of dreams
5 Which of Warsan Shire's poems went viral first?
River of Milk

For Women Who are Difficult to Love

Backwards

The House
6 What is the name of Warsan Shire's audio-poetry album on Bandcamp?
warsan versus melancholy

The House

Her Blue Body

Lemonade
7 Warsan Shire was the Younger Poet Laureate of...
Los Angeles

London

Nairobi

Mogadishu
8 Shire edits which magazine...?
SPOOK

Ebony

Diode

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

Diaspora

Christianity

Radicalism
10 From where does "The House" get its title?
From something the speaker's mother said

From something the speaker's father said

From something the speaker thought of

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

Roman numerals

Letters

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

Afrikaans

Zulu

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

The kitchen of lust

The jam jar

The house
14 The phrase "new, neat procedure" is likely referring to...
Castration

A sex change

A birth

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

A social worker

A teacher

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

The house as a feminine body

Johnny's bottle of bleach

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

The trappings of ambition

Queerness and gender identification

The American dream
18 What is the function of humor in "The House"?
It is a way of making other people laugh

It represents the narrator's desire to connect with others

It manages the darkness of what the narrator is saying

It adds lightness to contrast the poem's heaviness
19 Warsan Shire's poetry was featured in which of these in 2016?
Beyoncé's Lemonade

The Museum of Modern Art

Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer

The Nuyorican's slam poetry finals
20 Warsan Shire was born in what year?
1963

1984

1988

1997

The House (poem) Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The House (poem) is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

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.

Read the Study Guide for The House (poem)…