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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Adonis react to Venus's comparison of herself to a park?
(a) With compassion.
(b) With desire.
(c) With contempt.
(d) With laughter.

2. Who is the author of the poem's epigraph?
(a) Euripides.
(b) Ovid.
(c) Henry Wriothesley.
(d) Shakespeare.

3. What technique is used in lines 432 and 433, "my ears would love/ That inward beauty and invisible"?
(a) Anthimeria.
(b) Personification.
(c) Anadiplosis.
(d) Paraprosdokian.

4. What metaphorical comparison is introduced when the horse crushes the bit?
(a) The bit is compared to logic and reason.
(b) The horse is compared to an unruly child.
(c) The horse is compared to an escaped slave.
(d) The bit is compared to an unjust law.

5. What does Venus mean when she says that the stallion stood "like a jade" when he was tied to the tree (line 391)?
(a) He was like a broken-down cart horse.
(b) He was as still as a statue.
(c) He was beautiful but not useful.
(d) He was more valuable before he revealed his rebellious streak.

6. Which technique is used in line 218, "And swelling passion doth provoke a pause"?
(a) Parallelism.
(b) Antistrophe.
(c) Inversion.
(d) Alliteration.

7. What technique is used in line 470, "For sharply he did think to reprehend her"?
(a) Euphemism.
(b) Cacophony.
(c) Epigram.
(d) Inversion.

8. Which is the best interpretation of "sick-thoughted Venus" in line 5?
(a) Venus cannot think clearly because she is ill.
(b) Venus's thoughts are evil.
(c) Venus's thoughts are unnatural.
(d) Venus is sick with love for Adonis.

9. Which is the best definition for "Fondling" as used in line 229?
(a) Lost one.
(b) Beloved.
(c) Savior.
(d) Stubborn one.

10. Which is the best definition of "even" in Venus's question "What hour is this? or morn or weary even" (line 495)?
(a) Level.
(b) At the same time.
(c) Evening.
(d) Equal.

11. What does Adonis mean when he tells Venus that she can stop her tears and flattery, because in his heart, "they make no batt’ry" (line 426).
(a) Her tears and flattery are like an assault and can cause him physical harm.
(b) Her tears and flattery cannot break down the walls around his heart.
(c) Her tears and flattery do not spark a fire in his heart.
(d) Her tears and flattery are incapable of sustaining love in any lasting way.

12. Which is the most reasonable interpretation of Venus's characterization of Adonis as having a "mermaid's voice" (line 429)?
(a) She is alluding to the mythological sirens.
(b) She is comparing his voice to the sound of the ocean.
(c) She is warning him that his voice can be snatched away.
(d) She is dismissing his perspective as too feminine.

13. What does Venus tell Adonis is his "duty" (line 168)?
(a) To obey the will of a goddess.
(b) To enjoy youth while it lasts.
(c) To have sex and beget children.
(d) To accept the admiration his great beauty causes.

14. How does the speaker characterize Venus's lapse into unconsciousness?
(a) It demonstrates Venus's soft heart.
(b) It is cunning.
(c) It is unsurprising.
(d) It demonstrates Venus's sincerity.

15. What is Venus referring to when she tells Adonis that "The tender spring upon thy tempting lip/ Shows thee unripe" (lines 127-128)?
(a) The residue of her own tears.
(b) The sickly green shade of his skin.
(c) Beads of sweat.
(d) The beginnings of a mustache.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Adonis feel after Venus falls unconscious?

2. Who or what is being described when the word "fetlocks" is used in line 295?

3. What does Adonis do just before he turns his head away from Venus's kiss?

4. What is Adonis being compared to when the speaker says he is "Like a dive-dapper" (86)?

5. What is the "copse" mentioned in line 259?

(see the answer keys)

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