1. In lines 131 and 132, what does Venus mean when she tells Adonis that "Fair flowers that are not gather’d in their prime/ Rot, and consume themselves in little time"?

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

3. As Adonis vacillates "’Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy pale" (line 76), what is the speaker saying Venus feels in lines 77 and 78, "Being red she loves him best, and being white, / Her best is better’d with a more delight"?

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

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

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

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

8. Why does the speaker compare Venus's eyes to "the moon in water seen by night" (line 492)?

9. What point is Adonis making with the metaphor "Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth?" (line 416)?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one element of the poem that seems to you to be particularly aimed at creating a broad appeal and might therefore have factored into the poem's commercial success. You might focus on the poem's humor, its relatability, its eroticism, or some other factor not yet discussed in this context--such as the Elizabethan interest in Ancient Greece and Rome, for instance. Write an essay that focuses on your chosen element: offer evidence from throughout Venus and Adonis to support your claim that this element is a notable feature of the poem, and then offer historical and literary evidence that demonstrates why this element was likely to have appealed to a wide 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.

Essay Topic 2

How does the stanzaic structure of Venus and Adonis support the poem's tone and meaning? What is the relationship between the couplets and the quatrains within each stanza? How does this relationship impact the poem's tone? When the couplets become aphorisms or epigrams, what contribution does this make to tone? How does this packaging of ideas contribute to the poem's wit and the speaker's authority? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about the contribution that the stanzaic form of Venus and Adonis makes to the poem's tone and overall impact. Show how this helps the poem convey one or more ideas. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the poem; cite quoted evidence 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)

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