View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in line 432, "Ear’s deep sweet music, and heart’s deep sore wounding"?

2. What "circuit" is Venus referring to when she tells Adonis "I have hemm’d thee here/ Within the circuit of this ivory pale" (lines 229-230)?

3. What technique is used in lines 19 and 20, "not cloy thy lips with loath’d satiety,/ But rather famish them amid their plenty"?

4. When Venus shakes her head and then Adonis's hand, looks at him and then at the ground, what is it most reasonable to infer about her motivation?

5. Which technique is used in lines 221 and 222, "And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak/ And now her sobs do her intendments break"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What plan does Adonis share with Venus just as she is finally about to let him leave her, and how does Venus react?

2. Explain the comparison the speaker makes between Adonis's horse and one created by an artist.

3. How do Venus and Adonis end up on the ground together?

4. What does Venus convey in the speech about her senses that begins in line 433, "Had I no eyes but ears"?

5. What is Venus's purpose in talking about her relationship with the god of war?

6. What does Venus tell Adonis will "buy" her heart (line 514), and how does she propose that he "seal" the bargain (line 516)?

7. Throughout the first 36 stanzas, how is Adonis depicted?

8. Explain the conceit that Venus uses when she compares herself to a park.

9. What does Venus tell Adonis would happen if their positions were reversed?

10. How does the mare react to the stallion at first, and how does her reaction change?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the impact of the repetition and parallelism used in Venus and Adonis? The poem is notable both for the variety of these techniques--anaphora, alliteration, assonance, antanaclasis, epistrophe, polyptoton, chiasmus, antimetabole, and antithesis, among others--and for their frequency. How do these techniques create emphasis and highlight the relationships among ideas? In a broader sense, how do they establish ethos and impact the poem's tone? Write an essay in which you analyze the impact that the frequent and varied use of techniques of repetition and parallelism has on the poem's overall effect. Support your arguments with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the poem, making sure to cite any quoted language in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Of the several forms of figurative language Shakespeare employs in Venus and Adonis, metaphors and similes are by far the most frequent. What about this is typical of an epic? Why do epics use so many figures of comparison? Are Shakespeare's metaphors and similes employed in similar ways to those typically found in classical epics, or does he seem to have other purposes in mind? Write an essay that establishes how and why similes and metaphors are commonly used in epic poetry and then compares and contrasts the ways that these figures of comparison are used in Venus and Adonis. Support your arguments with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the poem, making sure to cite any quoted language in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

You have already considered how eroticism and humor make Venus and Adonis relatable to a wide audience. There is a more subtle element of this poem that also increases its relatability: anachronisms. What was the Elizabethan attitude toward historical accuracy in poetry and plays? Which was considered more important--accuracy or relatability? Write an essay in which you identify the anachronisms in this poem and then use historical and literary evidence to demonstrate that, far from being distractions, these elements of the poem would have actually increased its commercial appeal to an Elizabethan audience. Support your arguments with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the poem, making sure to cite any quoted language and outside sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,157 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample