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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. What does Venus say will die with Adonis?

2. Who is the "flap-mouth’d mourner" referred to in line 920?

3. What technique is used in line 1141, "It shall be fickle, false and full of fraud"?

4. When Venus "sings extemporally a woeful ditty," what is the best definition for "extemporally" in this context (line 836)?

5. What colors are emphasized in the description of morning?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Adonis contrast love and lust?

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

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

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

5. What trick do Venus's eyes play on her after she has been looking at Adonis's body for a few minutes?

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

7. Explain the pun in lines 827 and 828, when after Adonis leaves, the speaker says of Venus, "Even so confounded in the dark she lay,/ Having lost the fair discovery of her way."

8. What criticism does the speaker make of lovers' stories?

9. How does Venus's attitude toward death change when she believes that Adonis is alive?

10. What happens to Adonis's body at the end of the poem, and how does Venus respond?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the theme of Venus and Adonis? What is the poem saying about lust, love, power, virtue, and mortality? Consider symbolism, the speaker's tone, the characterizations of both Venus and Adonis, the action of the poem, and the choices Shakespeare made in adapting the original story to his own uses as you craft your position on the meaning of this poem. Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the theme of Venus and Adonis. Support your arguments with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the poem, and be sure to cite any quoted language in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Shakespeare, like many Elizabethans, was very interested in the issue of the "natural" versus the "unnatural." How does his use of hunting symbolism in Venus and Adonis explore this issue? Is hunting presented as a natural or unnatural activity? For whom? How do his treatment of Artemis and his use of the stallion as a foil for Adonis support his perspective on who should engage in hunting? Why does Shakespeare omit the role of Cupid in Venus's desire for Adonis? Where are Cupid and his arrows actually mentioned in the poem, and how does Cupid's role as "hunter" figure into the poem's meaning? What does Adonis's manner of death communicate about hunting? Write an essay in which you analyze the messages about natural and unnatural behavior conveyed by the poem's hunting symbolism. Support your analysis with evidence from the poem, citing any quoted material in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

You have already considered how eroticism and humor make Venus and Adonis relatable to a wide audience. There is a more subtle element of this poem that also increases its relatability: anachronisms. What was the Elizabethan attitude toward historical accuracy in poetry and plays? Which was considered more important--accuracy or relatability? Write an essay in which you identify the anachronisms in this poem and then use historical and literary evidence to demonstrate that, far from being distractions, these elements of the poem would have actually increased its commercial appeal to an Elizabethan 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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