Context
- Publication: Probably composed between June 1592 and May 1594, during a plague closure. Entered with the Stationers' on April 18, 1593. Printed by Richard Field, a fellow Stratfordian.By 1600, Venus and Adonis became a widely quoted poem, integral to Shakespeare's transition from dramatist to poet. Venus and Adonis was positively noted by Gabriel Harvey and many Cambridge undergraduates. EEBO link.
- Scholarship: Scholars read Venus and Adonis to understand Shakespeare's Ovidian and Renaissance influences, and to treat the issue of erotic love in Shakespeare's poetry.
- Why I'm reading it: The Canon.
Content
- Form: Iambic pentameter in six-line stanzas, ABABCC
- Genre: Heroic romantic poem.
- Conceit: Adonis is a delight to all, but doesn't desire love. Venus goes to meet him during a hunt, and forces him to listen and recline with her. Adonis doesn't reciprocate her affection, and breaks away to go home--but his horse runs away in romance. Venus appeals again to him, but faints after he scorns her. He aids her, she recovers, and Venus forsees Adonis' death. Adonis refuses her advances again, and refuses earthly lust in favor of heavenly love. Venus follows the sounds of the hunt and comes upon a wounded dog and a dead Adonis. Venus then curses love, at which time Adonis evaporates and is replaced by a purple and white flower.
- Other notes: Most of the amorous arguments are recycled from the sonnets, especially the self-consuming waste and self-consuming selfishness.
Written with notes.
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