View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does Venus say will die with Adonis?
(a) Chaos.
(b) Love.
(c) Death.
(d) Beauty.

3. What is the most logical definition of "tushes" in the context of line 617, "Whose tushes never sheath’d he whetteth still"?
(a) Hooves.
(b) Touches.
(c) Tusks.
(d) Knives.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does line 972 compare to "many clouds consulting for foul weather"?

2. Which two colors dominate the description of Adonis's body?

3. What does Venus tell Adonis is usually unlike her?

4. What do Venus's descriptions of the rabbit, fox, and deer have in common?

5. What technique is used in lines 815 and 816, "Look how a bright star shooteth from the sky,/ So glides he in the night from Venus’ eye"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Adonis's body at the end of the poem, and how does Venus respond?

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

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

4. How does the construction of line 832, "Passion on passion deeply is redoubled," mimic the sense of what is happening in this passage?

5. What is ironic about the description of the colors around the boar's mouth?

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

7. How does Venus contrast the behavior of fish and birds with the behavior of the boar?

8. How does Venus portray Adonis having sex as a kind of selfless action and his choosing chastity as selfishness?

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

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,056 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample