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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Venus's motive for flattering death?
(a) She fears that death will try to take her life, too.
(b) She is relieved and her natural flirtatiousness returns.
(c) She hopes it will keep death from taking Adonis.
(d) She feels genuinely sorry that she has accused him.

2. As Venus "flies" toward the sound of the hunting horn, to what bird does the speaker compare her (line 1027)?
(a) Eagle.
(b) Falcon.
(c) Lark.
(d) Sparrow.

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

4. Which is the best summary of the meaning conveyed by the stanza that describes Venus's competing feelings of hope and despair?
(a) 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.
(b) 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.
(c) Both of these extreme emotions are ridiculous and problematic for Venus, but she cannot help vacillating between them because she is in love.
(d) 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.

5. Whom does Venus address as a "clear god" (line 860)?
(a) The wind.
(b) The sky.
(c) The sun.
(d) The morning.

6. What colors are emphasized in the description of morning?
(a) Silver and gold.
(b) Red and white.
(c) Blue and green.
(d) Yellow and orange.

7. What is the most reasonable interpretation of what Venus means when she asks "Where did I leave?” and Adonis replies “No matter where" (line 715)?
(a) She is asking what she was saying before her train of thought was interrupted.
(b) She is asking where she and Adonis were when she first told him that he could leave for the night.
(c) She is asking Adonis to explain what he means when he accuses her of wanting to leave.
(d) She is asking where Adonis intends to go once he leaves her that evening.

8. Besides being goddess of the moon and the hunt, what significant power was Cynthia believed to possess?
(a) The power to cause sudden illness and death.
(b) The power to cause memory loss and hallucinations.
(c) The power to increase crop yields.
(d) The power to control the weather.

9. What bird's song heralds the approach of morning?
(a) The robin.
(b) The thrush.
(c) The lark.
(d) The sparrow.

10. What do Venus's descriptions of the rabbit, fox, and deer have in common?
(a) They stress that all three yield delicious meat and useful skins.
(b) They stress how numerous and easily spotted these creatures are.
(c) They stress how fast and clever these animals are.
(d) They stress the timid and retiring nature of these animals.

11. What techniques are used in lines 1015 and 1016, "“O love!” quoth she, “how much a fool was I,/ To be of such a weak and silly mind"?
(a) Apostrophe and inversion.
(b) Inversion and parallelism.
(c) Euphemism and apostrophe.
(d) Parallelism and euphemism.

12. What is Venus compared to when she hears the sound of the hunting dogs baying?
(a) A lamp brighter than the sun himself.
(b) Someone who sees a poisonous snake.
(c) A doe rushing to feed her fawn.
(d) A soldier deserting the battlefield.

13. What are the various forms of repetition in lines 833 and 834, "'Ay me!' she cries, and twenty times, 'Woe, woe!'/ And twenty echoes twenty times cry so," meant to convey?
(a) The repetition mimics the way Venus keeps running back and forth looking for Adonis.
(b) The repetition demonstrates that Venus's lust has become genuine love.
(c) The repetition highlights the difference between Venus's display of grief and the shallowness of her real feelings.
(d) The repetition stresses Venus's passion and mimics the sound of echoing.

14. Who is the "flap-mouth’d mourner" referred to in line 920?
(a) Venus.
(b) A dog.
(c) The boar.
(d) A hunter.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in line 899, "Bids them leave quaking, bids them fear no more"?

2. What technique is used in line 1138, "Find sweet beginning, but unsavoury end"?

3. What technique is used in lines 647 and 648, "My boding heart pants, beats, and takes no rest,/ But like an earthquake, shakes thee on my breast"?

4. What is the best definition of "eyne" in line 633, "Nor thy soft hands, sweet lips, and crystal eyne"?

5. What does Venus say the boar is looking for with its "downward eye" (line 1106)?

(see the answer keys)

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