2. What event causes the speaker to say that "The night of sorrow now is turn’d to day" (line 481)?
(a) Adonis kisses Venus.
(b) Venus agrees to let Adonis leave.
(c) The stallion returns to Adonis.
(d) Helios feels jealous of Adonis.

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

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

5. 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 shy to explain to Adonis exactly what she wants from him.
(b) She is too distraught to know how to proceed.
(c) She is having second thoughts about her confession of love.
(d) She is attempting to distract Adonis from her real intentions.

6. What technique is used in line 75, "Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets"?
(a) Parallelism.
(b) Personification.
(c) Synecdoche.
(d) Anaphora.

7. Which of the poem's motifs is most clearly illustrated by line 41, "Backward she push’d him, as she would be thrust"?
(a) Adonis's unnatural lack of desire.
(b) The reversal of expected gender roles.
(c) The contrast between passion and virtue.
(d) The difference between lust and love.

8. What does Venus call "heavenly moisture" in line 64?
(a) Adonis's tears.
(b) Her own kisses.
(c) Adonis's breath.
(d) The dew on the flowers.

9. What is Adonis being compared to when the speaker says he is "Like a dive-dapper" (86)?
(a) A fish.
(b) An osprey.
(c) A duck.
(d) A swimmer.

10. What technique is used in lines 19 and 20, "not cloy thy lips with loath’d satiety,/ But rather famish them amid their plenty"?
(a) Inversion.
(b) Paradox.
(c) Malapropism.
(d) Polysyndeton.

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

12. When Venus and Adonis are on the ground kissing in lines 547-558, what is Venus being compared to?
(a) A soldier on the field of battle.
(b) A predatory wild animal.
(c) A greedy child at the table.
(d) A destructive storm at sea.

13. 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 beginnings of a mustache.
(b) The sickly green shade of his skin.
(c) The residue of her own tears.
(d) Beads of sweat.

14. What technique is used in line 59, " Even so she kiss’d his brow, his cheek, his chin"?
(a) Oxymoron.
(b) Anthimeria.
(c) Chiasmus.
(d) Asyndeton.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which is the best characterization of the connotations of Venus's description of "fountains" (line 234) and "rising hillocks" in her description of the park (line 237)?

2. 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).

3. What colors are most prominent in the first 36 stanzas of the poem?

4. What is the definition of "recketh" in the line "What recketh he his rider’s angry stir" (line 283)?

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 614 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page)

View a FREE sample