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 late nineteenth century

The early twentieth century

The early nineteenth 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 middle-aged man from the countryside

A younger version of Housman
3 Which of the following best describes Housman's character as a scholar?

Lax

Witty

Garrulous

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

Witty

Scholarly

Old-fashioned

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

A London Lad

A Shropshire Boy

A Shropshire Lad

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

Eight Lines

Sixteen Lines

Seven Lines

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

ABABABAB

ABCBCDAD

ABCBADAD

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

Poor

Stupid

Happy

Proud
9 How does the wise man describe love?

As a transaction

As an overwhelming force

As a relationship with other people

As a feeling that should be reserved for God
10 What does the ending of the first stanza imply?

The speaker was already in love

The speaker is in love now but not then

The speaker never fell in love

The speaker gave away his heart
11 Which of the following best describes Housman's version of rural life?

Idealized

Accurate

Critical

Demonized
12 Who was the primary audience of pastoral poetry?

Suburbanites who saw themselves as rural

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

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

Bosom

Guinea

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

Focus on shepherds

Religious allegory

Descriptions of the countryside

Simple, innocent speaker
15 Why might Housman have been attracted to the pastoral genre?

He was himself from Shropshire

He wanted to criticize the genre

He found it freeing

He believed all scholarship should be emotional
16 What does the phrase "in vain" usually connote?

A tragic heartbreak

A costly expenditure

A bad deal

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

We assumed the wise man was wrong

We assumed the speaker had a positive view of love

We assumed the speaker was older

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

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

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

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

It reveals Housman's hatred of the speaker

It renders the poem more bitter

It renders the poem more pessimisstic

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

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

Love is painful, but the pain is worth it

True love is something only young people can experience

A cynical attitude about love can be just as naive as a hopeful one
21 How does Housman NOT characterize the speaker?

As world-weary

As bitter

As wise

As a bit foolish
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 emphasize pleasure

Both poems are ironic

Both poems describe the beauty of the countryside

Both poems are writen in a sing-song style
24 When and where did the pastoral tradition originate?

Ancient Greece

The English industrial revolution

Ancient Rome

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

It is tempered by grief

It becomes more pronounced

It is proven wrong by the joys of love

It remains stable throughout the poem

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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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