The House (poem) Quizzes

The House (poem) Quiz

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

Lemonade

Extreme Girlhood

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

America

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 wakes up in a bathtub full of ice

He calls God through the window but receives no answer

He breaks into the basement of dreams

He sneaks into the speaker's house and ends up chained in the basement
5 Which of Warsan Shire's poems went viral first?
The House

Backwards

For Women Who are Difficult to Love

River of Milk
6 What is the name of Warsan Shire's audio-poetry album on Bandcamp?
Her Blue Body

The House

warsan versus melancholy

Lemonade
7 Warsan Shire was the Younger Poet Laureate of...
Mogadishu

Los Angeles

Nairobi

London
8 Shire edits which magazine...?
Honeysuckle

SPOOK

Diode

Ebony
9 Shire is often called a voice for...
Christianity

Pacifism

Diaspora

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

From something the speaker's father said

From something the speaker's mother said

From something the speaker thought of
11 "The House" uses what form to separate its stanzas?
Bullet points

Letters

Numbers

Roman numerals
12 The sentence "Nin soo joog laga waayo, soo jiifso aa laga helaa" is in what language?
Zulu

Somali

Afrikaans

Xhosa
13 What is an example of a motif in "The House"?
The kitchen of lust

The house

The jam jar

The apple
14 The phrase "new, neat procedure" is likely referring to...
A murder

A sex change

Castration

A birth
15 Near the end of the poem the speaker is questioned by whom...
A police officer

A teacher

A social worker

A true love
16 Which is an example of a motif in "The House"?
The house as a feminine body

The narrator's mother's warnings

The bathtub

Johnny's bottle of bleach
17 What is one of Warsan Shire's main poetic subjects?
Diaspora and displacement

Queerness and gender identification

The trappings of ambition

The American dream
18 What is the function of humor in "The House"?
It represents the narrator's desire to connect with others

It is a way of making other people laugh

It adds lightness to contrast the poem's heaviness

It manages the darkness of what the narrator is saying
19 Warsan Shire's poetry was featured in which of these in 2016?
Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer

Beyoncé's Lemonade

The Museum of Modern Art

The Nuyorican's slam poetry finals
20 Warsan Shire was born in what year?
1997

1963

1984

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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