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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 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"?
(a) Apostrophe and inversion.
(b) Inversion and parallelism.
(c) Euphemism and apostrophe.
(d) Parallelism and euphemism.

2. Which is the most reasonable interpretation of Venus's motives as she describes hunting a rabbit?
(a) She intends to show Adonis how sympathetic she is toward prey animals.
(b) She intends to shame Adonis into choosing to hunt rabbit instead of boar.
(c) She intends to make it sound as exciting as hunting a boar.
(d) She intends to illustrate how knowledgeable she is about hunting.

3. What is making the sounds referred to in lines 847 and 848, "For who hath she to spend the night withal,/ But idle sounds resembling parasites"?
(a) Birds.
(b) The night.
(c) Bugs.
(d) Caves.

4. When Venus "sings extemporally a woeful ditty," what is the best definition for "extemporally" in this context (line 836)?
(a) Without preparation or prior thought.
(b) With self-pity that is almost comical.
(c) Displaying great emotion.
(d) At great length.

5. Which is the best summary of the meaning conveyed by the stanza that describes Venus's competing feelings of hope and despair?
(a) The fear of loss makes it almost impossible to hold on to hope, but part of being in love is allowing oneself to be vulnerable and take emotional risks.
(b) Venus is making a spectacle of herself by wildly veering between hope and despair, and her lack of common sense implies that what she calls love is more likely lust.
(c) Both of these extreme emotions are ridiculous and problematic for Venus, but she cannot help vacillating between them because she is in love.
(d) Because Venus does not know the outcome yet, it is best for her to focus on hope, because at least in the interim she has one last chance to be happy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Adonis tell Venus he primarily objects to about her professions of love?

2. To what does Venus compare the fear of a person in love?

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

4. Why does Venus ask Adonis whether he saw her grow pale and tremble when he mentioned hunting boar?

5. What does Venus refer to as "ugly, meagre, lean"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Explain the pun in lines 827 and 828, when after Adonis leaves, the speaker says of Venus, "Even so confounded in the dark she lay,/ Having lost the fair discovery of her way."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. How does Adonis contrast love and lust?

(see the answer keys)

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