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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What "circuit" is Venus referring to when she tells Adonis "I have hemm’d thee here/ Within the circuit of this ivory pale" (lines 229-230)?
(a) A ring of flowers.
(b) Her heart.
(c) The field.
(d) Her arms.

2. 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 more valuable before he revealed his rebellious streak.
(c) He was beautiful but not useful.
(d) He was as still as a statue.

3. What is the "jennet" that appears in line 260?
(a) A bird.
(b) A flower.
(c) A fox.
(d) A horse.

4. What does Adonis accuse Venus of in line 53?
(a) Violence.
(b) Callousness.
(c) Immodesty.
(d) Impulsiveness.

5. Toward the end of the passage, what does Venus say Adonis must do in order for her to release his hand?
(a) Promise not to leave.
(b) Kiss her willingly.
(c) Give back her heart.
(d) Admit that he desires her.

6. Which technique is used in line 219, "Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth her wrong"?
(a) Apostrophe.
(b) Imagery.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Conceit.

7. What does Adonis do just before he turns his head away from Venus's kiss?
(a) Winks.
(b) Moans.
(c) Smiles.
(d) Shudders.

8. Which technique is used in lines 221 and 222, "And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak/ And now her sobs do her intendments break"?
(a) Anaphora.
(b) Paralepsis.
(c) Anadiplosis.
(d) Chiasmus.

9. Which is the best interpretation of line 600, in which Venus is said "To clip Elysium and to lack her joy"?
(a) She has come very close to paradise without being allowed to fully enjoy it.
(b) She has taken a big risk and it has not paid off for her.
(c) She is aware that she has dishonored her own status as a goddess and regrets her actions.
(d) She is unable to be truly happy about a conquest brought about through deception.

10. What does the speaker compare to a grinning wolf and a bullet?
(a) Adonis's stallion's seduction of the mare.
(b) Cupid drawing his bow.
(c) The words Adonis intends to say.
(d) Venus's lustful thoughts.

11. What technique is used when, in line 108, Venus says that Mars made "my arms his field, his tent my bed"?
(a) Personification.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Euphemism.
(d) Metonymy.

12. When Adonis tells Venus "Remove your siege from my unyielding heart," what metaphor used earlier in the poem does this recall (line 423)?
(a) Venus's comparison of Adonis to Narcissus and her warning about Narcissus's fate.
(b) Venus trying to persuade Adonis by bragging about having conquered the god of war.
(c) The description of the silent struggle between Venus and Adonis as a "war" of looks.
(d) The comparison of the stallion's steamy breath to a fiery furnace of passion.

13. Which techniques are used in lines 267-268, "The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds/ Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven’s thunder"?
(a) Diacope and onomatopoeia.
(b) Metaphor and alliteration.
(c) Alliteration and diacope.
(d) Onomatopoeia and metaphor.

14. What is the definition of "recketh" in the line "What recketh he his rider’s angry stir" (line 283)?
(a) Ruins.
(b) Angers.
(c) Considers.
(d) Ignores.

15. When Venus shakes her head and then Adonis's hand, looks at him and then at the ground, what is it most reasonable to infer about her motivation?
(a) She is too distraught to know how to proceed.
(b) She is too shy to explain to Adonis exactly what she wants from him.
(c) She is attempting to distract Adonis from her real intentions.
(d) She is having second thoughts about her confession of love.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Venus tell Adonis is his "duty" (line 168)?

2. Which is the best definition of "bootless" in the context of line 422?

3. To whom is Venus referring when she brags about being courted by the god of war?

4. Which is the most reasonable interpretation of Venus's characterization of Adonis as having a "mermaid's voice" (line 429)?

5. Who is the author of the poem's epigraph?

(see the answer keys)

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