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• The following version of this poem was used to create this Lesson Plan: Shakespeare, William. Venus and Adonis. Project Gutenberg. Ebook.

• Venus and Adonis consists of 199 stanzas of sesta rima.

• This pattern--a six-line stanza of iambic pentameter consisting of a quatrain rhymed abab and a concluding couplet rhymed cc--is so identified with Venus and Adonis that it is now also called a "Venus and Adonis stanza."

• The poem is prefaced by a quotation from Ovid, "Vilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus Apollo/ Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua."

• This quotation is generally translated to mean "Let the common man admire trash or vile things; may golden Apollo serve me full cups of Castalian waters."

• Next is a dedication to "Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton," in which Shakespeare apologizes for presuming to dedicate such a paltry offering to such an illustrious personage and promises future efforts more worthy...

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