The House (poem) Quizzes

The House (poem) Quiz

1 What was the name of Warsan Shire's first poetry collection?
Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth

Extreme Girlhood

Her Blue Body

Lemonade
2 Where was Warsan Shire born?
Kenya

America

Somalia

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

Migration

Sexual abuse

Love
4 What happens to the character Johnny in "The House"?
He wakes up in a bathtub full of ice

He breaks into the basement of dreams

He calls God through the window but receives no answer

He sneaks into the speaker's house and ends up chained in the basement
5 Which of Warsan Shire's poems went viral first?
For Women Who are Difficult to Love

Backwards

The House

River of Milk
6 What is the name of Warsan Shire's audio-poetry album on Bandcamp?
warsan versus melancholy

Her Blue Body

Lemonade

The House
7 Warsan Shire was the Younger Poet Laureate of...
London

Nairobi

Los Angeles

Mogadishu
8 Shire edits which magazine...?
SPOOK

Honeysuckle

Ebony

Diode
9 Shire is often called a voice for...
Christianity

Pacifism

Diaspora

Radicalism
10 From where does "The House" get its title?
From something the speaker's father said

From something the speaker thought of

From something the speaker's first love said

From something the speaker's mother said
11 "The House" uses what form to separate its stanzas?
Roman numerals

Numbers

Bullet points

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

Somali

Xhosa

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

The jam jar

The house

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

A murder

A sex change

Castration
15 Near the end of the poem the speaker is questioned by whom...
A police officer

A teacher

A true love

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

The bathtub

The narrator's mother's warnings

Johnny's bottle of bleach
17 What is one of Warsan Shire's main poetic subjects?
Diaspora and displacement

Queerness and gender identification

The American dream

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 is a way of making other people laugh

It adds lightness to contrast the poem's heaviness
19 Warsan Shire's poetry was featured in which of these in 2016?
The Museum of Modern Art

The Nuyorican's slam poetry finals

Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer

Beyoncé's Lemonade
20 Warsan Shire was born in what year?
1963

1997

1988

1984

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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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