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 late nineteenth century

The early nineteenth century

The mid nineteenth century

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

An old man who has moved to the city

A young man from the countryside

A younger version of Housman

A middle-aged man from the countryside
3 Which of the following best describes Housman's character as a scholar?

Witty

Lax

Garrulous

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

Sentimental

Old-fashioned

Witty

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

A London Lad

A Shropshire Boy

A London Boy

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

Sixteen Lines

Seven Lines

Eight Lines

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

ABCBCDAD

ABCBADAD

ABABABAB

The two stanzas do not share a rhyme scheme
8 How does the speaker characterize himself in the past?

Poor

Stupid

Proud

Happy
9 How does the wise man describe love?

As a transaction

As an overwhelming force

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 gave away his heart

The speaker was already in love

The speaker is in love now but not then

The speaker never fell in love
11 Which of the following best describes Housman's version of rural life?

Accurate

Idealized

Demonized

Critical
12 Who was the primary audience of pastoral poetry?

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

Suburbanites who saw themselves as rural

Rural people reading about their own lives

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"?

'Tis

Guinea

Bosom

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

Descriptions of the countryside

Simple, innocent speaker

Focus on shepherds

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

He wanted to criticize the genre

He believed all scholarship should be emotional

He was himself from Shropshire

He found it freeing
16 What does the phrase "in vain" usually connote?

A tragic heartbreak

A costly expenditure

A valuable sacrifice

A bad deal
17 How do the last two lines subvert the reader's expectations?

We assumed the speaker was older

We assumed the speaker was learned

We assumed the wise man was wrong

We assumed the speaker had a positive view of love
18 What is ironic about the wise man's allusion to "endless" woe?

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

The speaker is only sad because he never found 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 pessimisstic

It reveals Housman's hatred of the speaker

It renders the poem more optimistic

It renders the poem more bitter
20 What does "When I Was One-and-Twenty" suggest about love?

True love is something only young people can experience

Love is painful, but the pain is worth it

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

Love is just a transaction, and the lover always ends up losing
21 How does Housman NOT characterize the speaker?

As wise

As bitter

As a bit foolish

As world-weary
22 What is suspicious about the "wise man"?

His wisdom is in the eyes of the youthful speaker

The advice he gives serves to benefit him

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

The advice he gives turns out to be incorrect
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 describe the beauty of the countryside

Both poems emphasize pleasure

Both poems are writen in a sing-song style

Both poems are ironic
24 When and where did the pastoral tradition originate?

The English industrial revolution

Ancient Greece

Renaissance England

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

It remains stable throughout the poem

It is proven wrong by the joys of love

It becomes more pronounced

It is tempered by grief

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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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