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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which technique is used in line 218, "And swelling passion doth provoke a pause"?

2. 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?

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. To what does the speaker compare Venus finally opening her eyes after her faint?

5. Which is the best characterization of the connotations of Venus's description of "fountains" (line 234) and "rising hillocks" in her description of the park (line 237)?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Throughout the passage, which participants in a trial is Venus compared to?

5. What happens when Adonis tries to get back on his horse and leave?

6. Describe the stanza form in Venus and Adonis.

7. Explain the epic simile about an eagle in lines 55-60.

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Venus and Adonis convey about lust and love? In the world of the poem, how do the two emotions relate to one another? Is there any difference between these two feelings? Does either lead to human happiness? What do love and lust look like in practice, and how do they impact the characters in the poem? How do the two feelings relate to morality? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position about the messages that Venus and Adonis conveys about love and lust. Support your analysis with evidence from the poem, citing any quoted material in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Venus's apostrophes to death are not the only apostrophes in the poem. Where else is this technique used in the poem? What impact do the apostrophes have on tone? How is the use of apostrophe related to the way that Helios, Mars, Diana, and other figures are referred to, as if they are nearby but not directly interacting with Venus or Adonis? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about the larger purpose of the poem's apostrophes. Support your arguments with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the poem, and be sure to cite any quoted language in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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