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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. What technique is used in lines 432 and 433, "my ears would love/ That inward beauty and invisible"?
(a) Paraprosdokian.
(b) Anadiplosis.
(c) Personification.
(d) Anthimeria.

2. What event causes the speaker to say that "The night of sorrow now is turn’d to day" (line 481)?
(a) Helios feels jealous of Adonis.
(b) The stallion returns to Adonis.
(c) Venus agrees to let Adonis leave.
(d) Adonis kisses Venus.

3. What does Venus tell Adonis is his "duty" (line 168)?
(a) To enjoy youth while it lasts.
(b) To accept the admiration his great beauty causes.
(c) To obey the will of a goddess.
(d) To have sex and beget children.

4. How does Adonis react to Venus's comparison of herself to a park?
(a) With laughter.
(b) With desire.
(c) With compassion.
(d) With contempt.

5. Toward the end of the passage, what does Venus say Adonis must do in order for her to release his hand?
(a) Promise not to leave.
(b) Kiss her willingly.
(c) Admit that he desires her.
(d) Give back her heart.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Adonis feel after Venus falls unconscious?

2. Which technique is used in line 218, "And swelling passion doth provoke a pause"?

3. 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"?

4. Who is the author of the poem's epigraph?

5. Which technique is used in line 219, "Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth her wrong"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Venus tell Adonis would happen if their positions were reversed?

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

3. What does Venus convey in the speech about her senses that begins in line 433, "Had I no eyes but ears"?

4. What does Venus tell Adonis will "buy" her heart (line 514), and how does she propose that he "seal" the bargain (line 516)?

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

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 the mare react to the stallion at first, and how does her reaction change?

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

9. Explain the conceit that Venus uses when she compares herself to a park.

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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