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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which is the best characterization of the connotations of Venus's description of "fountains" (line 234) and "rising hillocks" in her description of the park (line 237)?
(a) Sarcastic.
(b) Sexual.
(c) Comforting.
(d) Boastful.

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

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

4. How does the speaker characterize Venus's lapse into unconsciousness?
(a) It is cunning.
(b) It demonstrates Venus's sincerity.
(c) It demonstrates Venus's soft heart.
(d) It is unsurprising.

5. What techniques are used in lines 417 and 418, "If springing things be any jot diminish’d,/ They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth"?
(a) Contraction and simile.
(b) Simile and personification.
(c) Personification and inversion.
(d) Inversion and contraction.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Adonis tells Venus "Remove your siege from my unyielding heart," what metaphor used earlier in the poem does this recall (line 423)?

2. When Venus and Adonis are on the ground kissing in lines 547-558, what is Venus being compared to?

3. What is the "copse" mentioned in line 259?

4. What causes Venus to fall to the ground, unconscious?

5. How does Adonis feel after Venus falls unconscious?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the comparison made between Adonis's mouth and a "red morn" (line 453).

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

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

4. 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"?

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

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

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

8. Explain the comparison the speaker makes between Adonis's horse and one created by an artist.

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)?

(see the answer keys)

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