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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. Where does Venus go first thing in the morning?

2. What do Venus's descriptions of the rabbit, fox, and deer have in common?

3. Which is the most reasonable interpretation of Venus's motives as she describes hunting a rabbit?

4. What characteristic of the boar does Venus's description primarily stress?

5. In the simile discussing the impact of an earthquake on a king's subjects, what does the speaker say causes earthquakes?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Venus's eyes when she first sees Adonis's dead body?

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

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

4. What does Venus tell Adonis about his beauty and the boar?

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

6. What does Venus say about death when she thinks that Adonis has died?

7. How does Venus portray Adonis having sex as a kind of selfless action and his choosing chastity as selfishness?

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

9. What is ironic about the description of the colors around the boar's mouth?

10. How does Adonis contrast love and lust?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Venus and Adonis ironically dismisses many of the religious values of Ancient Greece and Rome. But does it express the Christian worldview of Renaissance England in other ways, as well? What values and beliefs does the poem seem to endorse--either explicitly or implicitly? Does the poem contain any religious symbolism, allusions, metaphors, or similes? Write an essay in which you analyze the extent to which Venus and Adonis actively promotes the Christian worldview, as opposed to simply denying the Classical worldview. Support your arguments with evidence from throughout the poem, making sure to cite any quoted language and outside sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Venus certainly believes that Adonis should act on his feelings exactly as his horse does. But does the poem itself convey this message? Consider some of the hidden premises in Venus's argument: she is assuming that Adonis feels the same kind of lust for her that the stallion feels for the jennet, and that the situation between herself and Adonis is no more complex than the situation between the stallion and the jennet. What evidence in the poem tells you that Venus may be deliberately misunderstanding the parallel between her and Adonis and the jennet and the stallion? On the other hand, if this is the case, why do you think the speaker spends so many stanzas extolling the stallion and its behavior? Is the poem sending mixed messages about acting on lustful thoughts, or is there a way to logically reconcile the flaws in Venus's argument with the idealization of the horse's behavior? Write an essay in which you analyze this question, supporting your analysis with evidence from the poem. Cite any quoted material in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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