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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which is the best definition of "stillitory" in line 443, "For from the stillitory of thy face excelling"?
(a) A lecture instilling religious belief.
(b) Perfumed breath.
(c) A vessel used in distillation.
(d) A place where statues are displayed.

2. 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 residue of her own tears.
(c) Beads of sweat.
(d) The sickly green shade of his skin.

3. What techniques are used in lines 25 and 26, "With this she seizeth on his sweating palm,/ The precedent of pith and livelihood"?
(a) Assonance and onomatopoeia.
(b) Metonymy and alliteration.
(c) Alliteration and assonance.
(d) Onomatopoeia and metonymy.

4. 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 contrast between passion and virtue.
(c) The reversal of expected gender roles.
(d) The difference between lust and love.

5. 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.

6. 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) Equal.
(c) Evening.
(d) At the same time.

7. What technique is used in line 432, "Ear’s deep sweet music, and heart’s deep sore wounding"?
(a) Antimetabole.
(b) Juxtaposition.
(c) Oxymoron.
(d) Antithesis.

8. Which is the best definition of "bootless" in the context of line 422?
(a) Useless, pointless.
(b) Irresponsible, careless.
(c) Unmannerly, rude.
(d) Informal, casual.

9. 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)?
(a) Boastful.
(b) Comforting.
(c) Sarcastic.
(d) Sexual.

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

11. To whom is the poem dedicated?
(a) The Earl of Southampton.
(b) James I.
(c) Anne Hathaway.
(d) Elizabeth I.

12. When Venus asks Adonis "Is thine own heart to thine own face affected?" whose story is she alluding to (157)?
(a) Icarus.
(b) Narcissus.
(c) Pygmalion.
(d) The Minotaur.

13. What is Adonis planning to do when he is accosted by Venus?
(a) Hunt.
(b) Nap.
(c) Pick flowers.
(d) Eat lunch.

14. What technique is used in lines 254 and 255, "Her words are done, her woes the more increasing;/ The time is spent, her object will away"?
(a) Parallelism.
(b) Apostrophe.
(c) Imagery.
(d) Paradox.

15. What colors are most prominent in the first 36 stanzas of the poem?
(a) Purple and blue.
(b) Blue and red.
(c) White and purple.
(d) Red and white.

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in lines 401 and 402, "Who is so faint that dare not be so bold/ To touch the fire, the weather being cold?"

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

3. What technique is used in line 111, "Strong-temper’d steel his stronger strength obey’d"?

4. What color is most prominent in the description of Venus kneeling before Adonis and putting her hand on his cheek?

5. 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"?

(see the answer keys)

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