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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which is the most logical interpretation of the phase "her sight dazzling" when Venus is looking at Adonis's body in line 1064?
(a) Venus's vision has begun to blur and swim.
(b) Venus's eyes seem to glitter like jewels.
(c) Venus finds Adonis beautiful even in death.
(d) Venus's eyes still mislead her into thinking lust is love.

2. What type of human does Venus compare the boar to?
(a) A hangman.
(b) A butcher.
(c) A thief.
(d) A soldier.

3. What technique is used in line 899, "Bids them leave quaking, bids them fear no more"?
(a) Anaphora.
(b) Antithesis.
(c) Anthimeria.
(d) Anadiplosis.

4. What does Venus refer to as "ugly, meagre, lean"?
(a) Lust.
(b) Love.
(c) Life.
(d) Death.

5. How does Venus know that the dogs are barking at a boar, bear, or lion?
(a) She hears the excited cries of the hunters with the dogs.
(b) The sound of their barking is stationary.
(c) She cannot hear the sound of anything running through the brush.
(d) The dogs sound excited and frightened.

6. What technique is used in line 720, "'In night,' quoth she, 'desire sees best of all.'"?
(a) Epigram.
(b) Apostrophe.
(c) Hyperbole.
(d) Allusion.

7. Which is the most reasonable interpretation of Venus's motives as she describes hunting a rabbit?
(a) She intends to show Adonis how sympathetic she is toward prey animals.
(b) She intends to make it sound as exciting as hunting a boar.
(c) She intends to shame Adonis into choosing to hunt rabbit instead of boar.
(d) She intends to illustrate how knowledgeable she is about hunting.

8. Which is the best summary of the meaning conveyed by the stanza that describes Venus's competing feelings of hope and despair?
(a) The fear of loss makes it almost impossible to hold on to hope, but part of being in love is allowing oneself to be vulnerable and take emotional risks.
(b) Because Venus does not know the outcome yet, it is best for her to focus on hope, because at least in the interim she has one last chance to be happy.
(c) Venus is making a spectacle of herself by wildly veering between hope and despair, and her lack of common sense implies that what she calls love is more likely lust.
(d) Both of these extreme emotions are ridiculous and problematic for Venus, but she cannot help vacillating between them because she is in love.

9. Which two colors dominate the description of Adonis's body?
(a) Red and black.
(b) White and red.
(c) Purple and white.
(d) Black and purple.

10. In line 1043, what is the speaker comparing to "a king perplexed in his throne"?
(a) The boar.
(b) Adonis's stallion.
(c) Death.
(d) Venus's brain.

11. What is making the sounds referred to in lines 847 and 848, "For who hath she to spend the night withal,/ But idle sounds resembling parasites"?
(a) Bugs.
(b) The night.
(c) Caves.
(d) Birds.

12. What technique is used in line 645, "Grew I not faint, and fell I not downright"?
(a) Parallelism.
(b) Anadiplosis.
(c) Antistrophe.
(d) Chiasmus.

13. What technique is used in line 1138, "Find sweet beginning, but unsavoury end"?
(a) Anthimeria.
(b) Antithesis.
(c) Chiasmus.
(d) Paralepsis.

14. In line 1032, whose eyes does the speaker compare to "stars asham’d of day"?
(a) Venus's.
(b) Adonis's.
(c) The boar's.
(d) Love's.

15. In the conceit that Venus concludes her speech with near the end of the poem, what two things are compared?
(a) Adonis and the flower.
(b) An infant and a cradle.
(c) A father and a child.
(d) The flower and an infant.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Venus ask Adonis whether he saw her grow pale and tremble when he mentioned hunting boar?

2. How does Venus characterize animals like the lion, tiger, and wolf when in Adonis's presence?

3. What technique is used in lines 815 and 816, "Look how a bright star shooteth from the sky,/ So glides he in the night from Venus’ eye"?

4. What does Adonis tell Venus he primarily objects to about her professions of love?

5. What technique is used in line 640, "They that thrive well, take counsel of their friends"?

(see the answer keys)

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