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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 do Venus's descriptions of the rabbit, fox, and deer have in common?
(a) They stress the timid and retiring nature of these animals.
(b) They stress how numerous and easily spotted these creatures are.
(c) They stress that all three yield delicious meat and useful skins.
(d) They stress how fast and clever these animals are.

2. What technique is used in line 1141, "It shall be fickle, false and full of fraud"?
(a) Sibilance.
(b) Alliteration.
(c) Onomatopoeia.
(d) Assonance.

3. What technique is used in line 640, "They that thrive well, take counsel of their friends"?
(a) Paralepsis.
(b) Apostrophe.
(c) Aphorism.
(d) Antimetabole.

4. What does Venus tell Adonis will be the cause of him tripping and falling?
(a) Earth wants to kiss him.
(b) It is dark and cloudy.
(c) He is distracted by love.
(d) One of the gods is jealous.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In lines 896 and 897, "Till cheering up her senses sore dismay’d,/ She tells them ’tis a causeless fantasy," what is the antecedent of "them"?

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

3. In line 1043, what is the speaker comparing to "a king perplexed in his throne"?

4. Which is the best summary of the meaning conveyed by the stanza that describes Venus's competing feelings of hope and despair?

5. Which techniques are used in line 838, "love is wise in folly foolish witty"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What criticism does the speaker make of lovers' stories?

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

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

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

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

9. After Adonis's death, what does Venus predict about love?

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

(see the answer keys)

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