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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 is the best definition of "eyne" in line 633, "Nor thy soft hands, sweet lips, and crystal eyne"?
(a) Skin.
(b) Eyes.
(c) Voice.
(d) Breath.

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

3. 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) The world is a cruel place that does not allow love to grow naturally.
(c) The world has no right to brag about itself if it would allow Adonis to die.
(d) Any time before Adonis's birth or after his death is worthless.

4. Where does Venus go first thing in the morning?
(a) A garden pond.
(b) A mossy hillock.
(c) A copse of oaks.
(d) A myrtle grove.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the best definition of "sepulchres" in line 622, "His snout digs sepulchres where’er he goes"?

2. When Venus suddenly has hope that Adonis is alive, who is the "rash suspect" that she "doth extenuate" (line 1009)?

3. 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?

4. When Venus "sings extemporally a woeful ditty," what is the best definition for "extemporally" in this context (line 836)?

5. In the context of the comparison of Adonis's departure to the departure of a friend onboard ship, which of the following words functions as a pun?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Venus suggest Adonis do if he insists on hunting on the following day?

2. What does Venus say about death when she thinks that Adonis has died?

3. What does Venus tell Adonis about the relationship between jealousy and her foreboding?

4. Why does Venus say that nature should be convicted of treason, and what is Cynthia's plan to thwart what nature has done?

5. What is the meaning of Venus's comments about veils and bonnets after Adonis's death?

6. What is conveyed by the personification and the simile in the passage where Venus runs through the brush toward the sounds of Adonis's hunting party?

7. What conclusion does Venus reach about why the boar killed Adonis, and what does this cause her to reflect about her own behavior?

8. How does Adonis contrast love and lust?

9. Describe the details of Venus's vision of Adonis and the boar.

10. What trick do Venus's eyes play on her after she has been looking at Adonis's body for a few minutes?

(see the answer keys)

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