1 When was A. E. Housman born? 1859 1912 1936 1889 2 Where was Housman born? Paris Shropshire Worcestershire London 3 Where did Housman attend university? Housman did not attend university University College, London Oxford Cambridge 4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student? Dazzling Unmotivated but brilliant Promising but disappointing Consistently poor 5 What did Housman do after graduating? Married his wife Immediately became a professor Earned a Ph.D. Worked as a clerk 6 What was Housman's priority during his life? His family His political activism His poetry His academic work 7 What kind of editing did Housman do? Fact-checking things in newspapers Giving advice to writers Determining which poems should be published Reconstructing classic texts 8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad? Most are about athletes Most feature rural narrators Most are autobiographical Most employ a flowery style 9 How did Housman see poetry? As an intellectual game As an expression of feeling As a way of better understanding the classics As a means of depicting beauty 10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry? Frustrated Melancholic Ironic Erotic 11 Which two stanzas of "To an Athlete Dying Young" most closely parallel one another? One and seven One and two Six and seven Five and seven 12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"? A complete stranger Housman himself A close friend of the runner A member of the community 13 What is the point of view of "To an Athlete"? Third person close First person singular Third person distant First person plural 14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"? Smart lad, to slip betimes away The fleet foot on the sill of shade And set you at your threshold down And hold to the low lintel up 15 What does the speaker want? For the runner to embrace death For the runner to defend his title For the runner to hold onto life For the runner to come back from the death 16 Which movement does Housman's subject matter most resemble? Gothic Modernist Neoclassical Romantic 17 Which of the following best describes Housman's diction in "To an Athlete"? Minimalist Extensive Emotive Descriptive 18 Which of the following is NOT a similarity between "To an Athlete" and ancient Roman poetry? Focus on honor Stripped-down style Use of iambic meter Depiction of the afterlife 19 What does the laural symbolize? The ephemerality of fame The eternal glory of fame The joy of fame The pointlessness of fame 20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death? As a closing off from the world of the living As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded As a period of eternal punishment As a continuation of life 21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to? The Odyssey The Iliad The Aeneiad The Bible 22 Housman compares the runner to a girl in the last line. What does this most plausibly suggest, given the rest of the poem? Death is desirable because it brings androgyny Masculinity is tragically short-lived The runner was in touch with his feminine side Masculinity is inferior to femininity 23 What does Housman's return to the laurel in the final stanza suggest about the athlete's fame amongst the dead? It will be short-lived It will be false It will diminish his strength of character It will only come when he is old 24 To what does Housman most consistently compare death? An architectural space A shady place A deep sleep A lost race 25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame? As a minor problem As a kind of freedom As the runner's fault As a kind of death