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

2. What is the definition of "recketh" in the line "What recketh he his rider’s angry stir" (line 283)?
(a) Ruins.
(b) Considers.
(c) Angers.
(d) Ignores.

3. 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) Metaphor and alliteration.
(b) Diacope and onomatopoeia.
(c) Alliteration and diacope.
(d) Onomatopoeia and metaphor.

4. What technique is used in line 431, "Melodious discord, heavenly tune, harsh-sounding"?
(a) Onomatopoeia.
(b) Chiasmus.
(c) Anaphora.
(d) Paradox.

5. What causes Venus to fall to the ground, unconscious?
(a) She is overcome by the heat from the sun.
(b) Adonis tells her that he will never love her or even desire her.
(c) Adonis pushes her roughly away from him.
(d) She has a premonition of the words Adonis is about to speak.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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"?

2. To whom is Venus referring when she brags about being courted by the god of war?

3. What does Venus mean when she says that the stallion stood "like a jade" when he was tied to the tree (line 391)?

4. How does Adonis feel after Venus falls unconscious?

5. 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)?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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"?

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

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

5. Describe the stanza form in Venus and Adonis.

6. What plan does Adonis share with Venus just as she is finally about to let him leave her, and how does Venus react?

7. 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"?

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

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

10. Why does the speaker compare Venus's eyes to "the moon in water seen by night" (line 492)?

(see the answer keys)

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