The House (poem) Quizzes

The House (poem) Quiz

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

Extreme Girlhood

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth

Lemonade

Her Blue Body
2 Where was Warsan Shire born?

Kenya

Somalia

England

America
3 Which of these themes is "The House" NOT about?

Sexual abuse

Memory

Migration

Love
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 sneaks into the speaker's house and ends up chained in the basement

He breaks into the basement of dreams
5 Which of Warsan Shire's poems went viral first?

River of Milk

For Women Who are Difficult to Love

The House

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

Her Blue Body

Lemonade

The House

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

Mogadishu

London

Nairobi

Los Angeles
8 Shire edits which magazine...?

SPOOK

Diode

Honeysuckle

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

Diaspora

Pacifism

Christianity

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

From something the speaker's father said

From something the speaker's mother said

From something the speaker's first love said

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

Bullet points

Letters

Roman numerals

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

Afrikaans

Xhosa

Zulu

Somali
13 What is an example of a motif in "The House"?

The house

The jam jar

The apple

The kitchen of lust
14 The phrase "new, neat procedure" is likely referring to...

A birth

Castration

A sex change

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

A teacher

A police officer

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

The American dream

Queerness and gender identification

The trappings of ambition
18 What is the function of humor in "The House"?

It manages the darkness of what the narrator is saying

It represents the narrator's desire to connect with others

It adds lightness to contrast the poem's heaviness

It is a way of making other people laugh
19 Warsan Shire's poetry was featured in which of these in 2016?

The Nuyorican's slam poetry finals

Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer

The Museum of Modern Art

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

1984

1963

1988

1997

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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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