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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which technique is used in line 219, "Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth her wrong"?
(a) Imagery.
(b) Apostrophe.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Conceit.

2. What does Adonis tell Venus is the only thing he could love?
(a) A boar.
(b) His horse.
(c) His own purity.
(d) His religious faith.

3. 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?
(a) She is too shy to explain to Adonis exactly what she wants from him.
(b) She is attempting to distract Adonis from her real intentions.
(c) She is having second thoughts about her confession of love.
(d) She is too distraught to know how to proceed.

4. How does Adonis view romantic love?
(a) He thinks it is chaotic and burdensome,
(b) He thinks it should be reserved for marriage.
(c) He thinks it elevates a person spiritually.
(d) He thinks it is frightening and dangerous.

5. What is Venus referring to when she tells Adonis that "The tender spring upon thy tempting lip/ Shows thee unripe" (lines 127-128)?
(a) The beginnings of a mustache.
(b) Beads of sweat.
(c) The sickly green shade of his skin.
(d) The residue of her own tears.

6. When Adonis tells Venus "Remove your siege from my unyielding heart," what metaphor used earlier in the poem does this recall (line 423)?
(a) The description of the silent struggle between Venus and Adonis as a "war" of looks.
(b) The comparison of the stallion's steamy breath to a fiery furnace of passion.
(c) Venus trying to persuade Adonis by bragging about having conquered the god of war.
(d) Venus's comparison of Adonis to Narcissus and her warning about Narcissus's fate.

7. What technique is used in lines 19 and 20, "not cloy thy lips with loath’d satiety,/ But rather famish them amid their plenty"?
(a) Polysyndeton.
(b) Inversion.
(c) Malapropism.
(d) Paradox.

8. What event causes the speaker to say that "The night of sorrow now is turn’d to day" (line 481)?
(a) Helios feels jealous of Adonis.
(b) Venus agrees to let Adonis leave.
(c) The stallion returns to Adonis.
(d) Adonis kisses Venus.

9. Toward the end of the passage, what does Venus say Adonis must do in order for her to release his hand?
(a) Kiss her willingly.
(b) Promise not to leave.
(c) Admit that he desires her.
(d) Give back her heart.

10. What colors are most prominent in the first 36 stanzas of the poem?
(a) Purple and blue.
(b) White and purple.
(c) Blue and red.
(d) Red and white.

11. Which techniques are used in lines 267-268, "The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds/ Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven’s thunder"?
(a) Alliteration and diacope.
(b) Onomatopoeia and metaphor.
(c) Metaphor and alliteration.
(d) Diacope and onomatopoeia.

12. When Venus and Adonis are on the ground kissing in lines 547-558, what is Venus being compared to?
(a) A destructive storm at sea.
(b) A predatory wild animal.
(c) A soldier on the field of battle.
(d) A greedy child at the table.

13. What does Venus compare Adonis to in line 8?
(a) A stallion.
(b) The sun.
(c) A flower.
(d) A stag.

14. What does Venus call "heavenly moisture" in line 64?
(a) Adonis's breath.
(b) The dew on the flowers.
(c) Her own kisses.
(d) Adonis's tears.

15. What technique is used in lines 432 and 433, "my ears would love/ That inward beauty and invisible"?
(a) Anadiplosis.
(b) Personification.
(c) Anthimeria.
(d) Paraprosdokian.

Short Answer Questions

1. What "circuit" is Venus referring to when she tells Adonis "I have hemm’d thee here/ Within the circuit of this ivory pale" (lines 229-230)?

2. To what does Venus compare her own lips when she says that Adonis's lips are "sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted" (line 511)?

3. What techniques are used in lines 25 and 26, "With this she seizeth on his sweating palm,/ The precedent of pith and livelihood"?

4. Which is the best definition for "Fondling" as used in line 229?

5. Which technique is used in lines 221 and 222, "And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak/ And now her sobs do her intendments break"?

(see the answer keys)

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