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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 line 111, "Strong-temper’d steel his stronger strength obey’d"?
(a) Epizeuxis.
(b) Polyptoton.
(c) Anaphora.
(d) Epimone.

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

3. What technique is used in lines 401 and 402, "Who is so faint that dare not be so bold/ To touch the fire, the weather being cold?"
(a) Personification.
(b) Symbolism.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Oxymoron.

4. What metaphorical comparison is introduced when the horse crushes the bit?
(a) The bit is compared to an unjust law.
(b) The horse is compared to an escaped slave.
(c) The horse is compared to an unruly child.
(d) The bit is compared to logic and reason.

5. Who is the author of the poem's epigraph?
(a) Shakespeare.
(b) Euripides.
(c) Henry Wriothesley.
(d) Ovid.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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)?

2. What does Adonis tell Venus is the only thing he could love?

3. What techniques are used in lines 417 and 418, "If springing things be any jot diminish’d,/ They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth"?

4. 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)?

5. What does the speaker compare to caves?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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"?

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

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

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

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

7. Explain the epic simile about an eagle in lines 55-60.

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

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

10. How does Adonis eventually end up kissing Venus?

(see the answer keys)

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