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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. What is Adonis planning to do when he is accosted by Venus?

2. What is Venus referring to when she tells Adonis that "The tender spring upon thy tempting lip/ Shows thee unripe" (lines 127-128)?

3. How does the speaker characterize Venus's lapse into unconsciousness?

4. Which is the most reasonable interpretation of Venus's characterization of Adonis as having a "mermaid's voice" (line 429)?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. 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"?

5. How does Adonis eventually end up kissing Venus?

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

7. 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"?

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

9. Describe the stanza form in Venus and Adonis.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Does the portrait of Venus in Venus and Adonis tend more to support or undercut traditional Elizabethan gender norms? Write an essay in which you consider both the characterization of Venus and the outcomes of her choices as you make an argument about what this poem is saying about the proper behavior of women. Support your argument with evidence drawn from the poem's language and plot details, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format. If you choose to support your argument with information drawn from outside sources, be sure to cite these in MLA format as well.

Essay Topic 3

What is the theme of Venus and Adonis? What is the poem saying about lust, love, power, virtue, and mortality? Consider symbolism, the speaker's tone, the characterizations of both Venus and Adonis, the action of the poem, and the choices Shakespeare made in adapting the original story to his own uses as you craft your position on the meaning of this poem. Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the theme of Venus and Adonis. 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.

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