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