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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. For what reason does Venus suggest the sun and wind took pity on Adonis's tears?
(a) Because of his kindness.
(b) Because of his beauty.
(c) Because of his youth.
(d) Because of his morality.

2. 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?
(a) Contend.
(b) Merciless.
(c) Fold.
(d) Pitchy.

3. 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.

4. What are the various forms of repetition in lines 833 and 834, "'Ay me!' she cries, and twenty times, 'Woe, woe!'/ And twenty echoes twenty times cry so," meant to convey?
(a) The repetition demonstrates that Venus's lust has become genuine love.
(b) The repetition stresses Venus's passion and mimics the sound of echoing.
(c) The repetition mimics the way Venus keeps running back and forth looking for Adonis.
(d) The repetition highlights the difference between Venus's display of grief and the shallowness of her real feelings.

5. What is Venus compared to when she hears the sound of the hunting dogs baying?
(a) A doe rushing to feed her fawn.
(b) Someone who sees a poisonous snake.
(c) A soldier deserting the battlefield.
(d) A lamp brighter than the sun himself.

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in lines 1123 and 1124, "She looks upon his lips, and they are pale;/ She takes him by the hand, and that is cold"?

2. 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?

3. What critique does the speaker offer of Venus's song?

4. What is Venus's main criticism of chastity?

5. What techniques are used in lines 1015 and 1016, "“O love!” quoth she, “how much a fool was I,/ To be of such a weak and silly mind"?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

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

7. How does Venus's attitude toward death change when she believes that Adonis is alive?

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

9. How does Adonis contrast love and lust?

10. What happens to Venus's eyes when she first sees Adonis's dead body?

(see the answer keys)

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