Venus

Venus is the Greco-Roman goddess of romantic love (Venus is her Roman name, in Greek she is called Aphrodite). She is the daughter of Jove (or Zeus) and has no mother, being born spontaneously out of seafoam. She is married to Vulcan (or Hephaestus), the god of forges and craftsmen, but she carries on a passionate affair with Mars (or Ares) the god of War. Venus is usually characterized as a fickle and unreliable goddess. She is passionately emotional and is considered one of the most beautiful of the goddesses, though she is not a goddess of beauty. In this poem, she is presented as a passionate but ultimately dangerous figure who pursues her beloved Adonis against his will and takes dangerous revenge on all of love when she loses him.

Adonis

Adonis, as represented both in classical myth and in this poem, is a beautiful human boy...