When I Was One-and-Twenty Quizzes

When I Was One-and-Twenty "When I Was One-and-Twenty"

1 When did Housman write the majority of his poetry?

The mid nineteenth century

The early twentieth century

The late nineteenth century

The early nineteenth century
2 Who is the speaker of “When I Was One-and-Twenty”?

A middle-aged man from the countryside

A younger version of Housman

A young man from the countryside

An old man who has moved to the city
3 Which of the following best describes Housman's character as a scholar?

Confrontational

Witty

Lax

Garrulous
4 Which of the following does not describes Housman as a poet?

Old-fashioned

Witty

Scholarly

Sentimental
5 What is the title of Housman's most famous collection of poems?

A London Boy

A Shropshire Boy

A Shropshire Lad

A London Lad
6 How long are the stanzas in "When I Was One-and-Twenty"?

Sixteen Lines

Eight Lines

Six Lines

Seven Lines
7 What is the rhyme scheme of "When I Was One-and-Twenty"?

ABCBCDAD

The two stanzas do not share a rhyme scheme

ABABABAB

ABCBADAD
8 How does the speaker characterize himself in the past?

Stupid

Proud

Happy

Poor
9 How does the wise man describe love?

As an overwhelming force

As a transaction

As a feeling that should be reserved for God

As a relationship with other people
10 What does the ending of the first stanza imply?

The speaker never fell in love

The speaker is in love now but not then

The speaker gave away his heart

The speaker was already in love
11 Which of the following best describes Housman's version of rural life?

Idealized

Demonized

Accurate

Critical
12 Who was the primary audience of pastoral poetry?

Rural people reading about their own lives

Suburbanites who saw themselves as rural

Rural people who had moved to the city and were nostalgic for what they left behind

Urbanites attracted to the fantasy of rural life
13 Which of the following is not an example of "old-fashioned" language in "When I Was One-and-Twenty"?

Guinea

'Tis

Rue

Bosom
14 Which element of pastoral poetry does Housman employ most frequently?

Descriptions of the countryside

Focus on shepherds

Simple, innocent speaker

Religious allegory
15 Why might Housman have been attracted to the pastoral genre?

He found it freeing

He was himself from Shropshire

He believed all scholarship should be emotional

He wanted to criticize the genre
16 What does the phrase "in vain" usually connote?

A costly expenditure

A bad deal

A tragic heartbreak

A valuable sacrifice
17 How do the last two lines subvert the reader's expectations?

We assumed the speaker had a positive view of love

We assumed the speaker was older

We assumed the wise man was wrong

We assumed the speaker was learned
18 What is ironic about the wise man's allusion to "endless" woe?

The speaker is only sad because he never found love

The speaker's youth means he can't know that his grief is really endless

In reality, the speaker has already gotten over the pain of love

None of the above
19 How does the irony of "When I Was One-and-Twenty" change the mood of the poem?

It renders the poem more optimistic

It renders the poem more bitter

It renders the poem more pessimisstic

It reveals Housman's hatred of the speaker
20 What does "When I Was One-and-Twenty" suggest about love?

Love is just a transaction, and the lover always ends up losing

True love is something only young people can experience

A cynical attitude about love can be just as naive as a hopeful one

Love is painful, but the pain is worth it
21 How does Housman NOT characterize the speaker?

As bitter

As a bit foolish

As world-weary

As wise
22 What is suspicious about the "wise man"?

His wisdom is in the eyes of the youthful speaker

The advice he gives turns out to be incorrect

He doesn't listen to the young man's response

The advice he gives serves to benefit him
23 Which of the following is a similarity between "When I Was One-and-Twenty" and the famous pastoral poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe?

Both poems emphasize pleasure

Both poems are ironic

Both poems are writen in a sing-song style

Both poems describe the beauty of the countryside
24 When and where did the pastoral tradition originate?

The English industrial revolution

Ancient Rome

Ancient Greece

Renaissance England
25 How does the wise man's transactional vision of love evolve over the course of the poem?

It is proven wrong by the joys of love

It is tempered by grief

It remains stable throughout the poem

It becomes more pronounced

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Study Guide for When I Was One-and-Twenty

When I Was One-and-Twenty study guide contains a biography of A. E. Housman, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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