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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

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

2. Which techniques are used in lines 267-268, "The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds/ Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven’s thunder"?
(a) Onomatopoeia and metaphor.
(b) Diacope and onomatopoeia.
(c) Metaphor and alliteration.
(d) Alliteration and diacope.

3. Which is the best definition for "Fondling" as used in line 229?
(a) Stubborn one.
(b) Savior.
(c) Lost one.
(d) Beloved.

4. To what does Venus compare her own lips when she says that Adonis's lips are "sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted" (line 511)?
(a) Sand.
(b) The ocean.
(c) Wax.
(d) A stamp.

5. What is the "copse" mentioned in line 259?
(a) A stand of trees.
(b) A small barn.
(c) A fenced area.
(d) A valley.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Venus referring to when she tells Adonis that "The tender spring upon thy tempting lip/ Shows thee unripe" (lines 127-128)?

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

3. What is Adonis planning to do when he is accosted by Venus?

4. What technique is used in lines 432 and 433, "my ears would love/ That inward beauty and invisible"?

5. Which is the most reasonable interpretation of Venus's characterization of Adonis as having a "mermaid's voice" (line 429)?

Short Essay Questions

1. Throughout the first 36 stanzas, how is Adonis depicted?

2. What does Venus tell Adonis he can learn from his horse?

3. Explain the comparison the speaker makes between Adonis's horse and one created by an artist.

4. What point is Adonis making with the metaphor "Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth?" (line 416)?

5. What happens when Adonis tries to get back on his horse and leave?

6. As Adonis vacillates "’Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy pale" (line 76), what is the speaker saying Venus feels in lines 77 and 78, "Being red she loves him best, and being white, / Her best is better’d with a more delight"?

7. How does Adonis eventually end up kissing Venus?

8. What is Venus's purpose in talking about her relationship with the god of war?

9. Why does the speaker compare Venus's eyes to "the moon in water seen by night" (line 492)?

10. In lines 131 and 132, what does Venus mean when she tells Adonis that "Fair flowers that are not gather’d in their prime/ Rot, and consume themselves in little time"?

(see the answer keys)

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