The House (poem) Quizzes

The House (poem) Quiz

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

Lemonade

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth

Her Blue Body

Extreme Girlhood
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 breaks into the basement of dreams

He calls God through the window but receives no answer

He wakes up in a bathtub full of ice

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

For Women Who are Difficult to Love

River of Milk

Backwards
6 What is the name of Warsan Shire's audio-poetry album on Bandcamp?

Lemonade

The House

Her Blue Body

warsan versus melancholy
7 Warsan Shire was the Younger Poet Laureate of...

Mogadishu

London

Los Angeles

Nairobi
8 Shire edits which magazine...?

SPOOK

Diode

Ebony

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

Pacifism

Christianity

Diaspora

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

From something the speaker's father said

From something the speaker's first love 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

Roman numerals

Numbers

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

Somali

Zulu

Xhosa

Afrikaans
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...

A murder

Castration

A sex change

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

A police officer

A true love

A teacher

A social worker
16 Which is an example of a motif in "The House"?

Johnny's bottle of bleach

The narrator's mother's warnings

The bathtub

The house as a feminine body
17 What is one of Warsan Shire's main poetic subjects?

Queerness and gender identification

The trappings of ambition

The American dream

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

It is a way of making other people laugh

It manages the darkness of what the narrator is saying

It adds lightness to contrast the poem's heaviness

It represents the narrator's desire to connect with others
19 Warsan Shire's poetry was featured in which of these in 2016?

Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer

The Nuyorican's slam poetry finals

The Museum of Modern Art

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

1984

1997

1963

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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