DHSHX

Assignment: Adonis's Death

Choose one of the three passages here and comment on any elements of language and style that you think are worthy of discussion; then, discuss how these elements relate to Venus and Adonis in its entirety with respect to themes, language, action and/or imagery that persist(s) throughout the poem as a whole.

‘But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar 1105
Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave,
Ne’er saw the beauteous livery that he wore;
Witness the entertainment that he gave:
If he did see his face, why then I know
He thought to kiss him, and hath kill’d him so.

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‘Had I been tooth’d like him, I must confess,
With kissing him I should have kill’d him first; But he is dead, and never did he bless
My youth with his; the more am I accurst.’ 1120
With this she falleth in the place she stood,
And stains her face with his congealed blood.

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‘’Tis true, ’tis true; thus was Adonis slain:
He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear,
Who did not whet his teeth at him again,
But by a kiss thought to persuade him there;
And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine 1115
Sheath’d unaware the tusk in his soft groin.

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