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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To what does Venus compare the fear of a person in love?
(a) The fear of a shepherd seeing his flock beset by wolves.
(b) The fear of a person carrying treasure who is surrounded by thieves.
(c) The fear of a mother holding a newborn during a rising flood.
(d) The fear of a monarch whose castle is besieged by enemies.

2. How does Venus characterize animals like the lion, tiger, and wolf when in Adonis's presence?
(a) Predatory.
(b) Tame.
(c) Fearful.
(d) Jealous.

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

4. What does line 972 compare to "many clouds consulting for foul weather"?
(a) The years Venus will live without Adonis.
(b) The howling dogs.
(c) The events leading to Adonis's death.
(d) Venus's emotions.

5. What is Venus saying when she asks the world "what canst thou boast/ Of things long since, or anything ensuing" (lines 1077 and 1078)?
(a) The relationship between the past and the present is not as clear as people pretend.
(b) Any time before Adonis's birth or after his death is worthless.
(c) The world has no right to brag about itself if it would allow Adonis to die.
(d) The world is a cruel place that does not allow love to grow naturally.

6. 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 stresses Venus's passion and mimics the sound of echoing.
(c) The repetition demonstrates that Venus's lust has become genuine love.
(d) The repetition highlights the difference between Venus's display of grief and the shallowness of her real feelings.

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

8. What technique is used in line 640, "They that thrive well, take counsel of their friends"?
(a) Aphorism.
(b) Antimetabole.
(c) Paralepsis.
(d) Apostrophe.

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

10. When Venus "sings extemporally a woeful ditty," what is the best definition for "extemporally" in this context (line 836)?
(a) With self-pity that is almost comical.
(b) Displaying great emotion.
(c) At great length.
(d) Without preparation or prior thought.

11. To whose dismayed surprise does the speaker compare Venus's astonishment when Adonis leaves her?
(a) Someone whose pampered pet suddenly slips outside and runs away.
(b) Someone who is walking across unknown terrain and falls into a bog of quicksand.
(c) Someone whose lamp blows out when they are walking in the woods at night.
(d) Someone who is accidentally struck by a careless hunter's arrow.

12. What characteristic of the boar does Venus's description primarily stress?
(a) It is divinely protected.
(b) It is well-armed for battle.
(c) It is cunning and deceptive.
(d) It is ugly inside and out.

13. What does Adonis tell Venus he primarily objects to about her professions of love?
(a) They are embarrassing.
(b) They are callous.
(c) They are unfeminine.
(d) They are dishonest.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in lines 693 and 694, "Ceasing their clamorous cry, till they have singled/ With much ado the cold fault cleanly out"?

2. In line 868, "She hearkens for his hounds and for his horn," which technique best conveys Venus's straining to hear a quiet, far-off sound?

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 does Venus refer to as "ugly, meagre, lean"?

5. What bird's song heralds the approach of morning?

(see the answer keys)

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