I have an upcoming course which studies Shakespeare's 'Venus and Adonis'. Today I decided to read ahead so that I don't start behind, and found that contrary to my prior assumption, this is not a play but a poem (I suppose that was why I had not heard of it being performed anywhere!). Well, I can now share my thoughts on said poem here. (Also, how have I not done a Shakespeare poem before this?!)
Unfortunately it is a mini epic poem and so I cannot paste it here; it took me an hour to read the whole piece. But it was not a long hour. I enjoyed each line and only found that I drifted into my mind's limbo land once, but the culprit there was the smell of my roast dinner cooking and so Shakespeare's writing cannot be blamed.
Here is the link if you are interested:
http://www.shakespeare-w.com/english/shakespeare/w_venus.html
The basic plotline is that the goddess Venus falls in love (very quickly, as Greek gods love to do) with a male youth astride his horse. She captures him in her embrace and begs him to love her (and all the rest). When this comes to no avail due to his shame and anger at love being forced upon him, and also since he has made plans to hunt with friends, she begs but kisses. Eventually he relents and after much struggling (and also the loss of his horse to the pursuit of a mare!) escapes to hunt, but (spoiler alert) he is killed by the boar, as Venus has prophesied. I know that Shakespeare loved Ovid's Metamorphoses and so have a strong feeling that this story was sourced from that work, especially since Adonis' body transforms into a flower, which Venus keeps with her evermore.
There are some beautiful and telling lines in this poem. I liked one so much that I put it into my special quotes book; when Adonis is entreating Venus to let him go, he uses the argument that she does not love him, only lusts for him, and thus we are given the line,
'Love comforteth, like sunshine after rain'.
I keep nuggets like this in the hope that one day they will fabricate me the perfect wedding speech, the intricate references of which I am sure only I will appreciate!
Other good lines come from the most talkative character in the poem, Venus herself. She is oh-so suggestive, coming out with giggle-fests such as,
'Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry,
Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie.'
Unfortunately it is a mini epic poem and so I cannot paste it here; it took me an hour to read the whole piece. But it was not a long hour. I enjoyed each line and only found that I drifted into my mind's limbo land once, but the culprit there was the smell of my roast dinner cooking and so Shakespeare's writing cannot be blamed.
Here is the link if you are interested:
http://www.shakespeare-w.com/english/shakespeare/w_venus.html
The basic plotline is that the goddess Venus falls in love (very quickly, as Greek gods love to do) with a male youth astride his horse. She captures him in her embrace and begs him to love her (and all the rest). When this comes to no avail due to his shame and anger at love being forced upon him, and also since he has made plans to hunt with friends, she begs but kisses. Eventually he relents and after much struggling (and also the loss of his horse to the pursuit of a mare!) escapes to hunt, but (spoiler alert) he is killed by the boar, as Venus has prophesied. I know that Shakespeare loved Ovid's Metamorphoses and so have a strong feeling that this story was sourced from that work, especially since Adonis' body transforms into a flower, which Venus keeps with her evermore.
There are some beautiful and telling lines in this poem. I liked one so much that I put it into my special quotes book; when Adonis is entreating Venus to let him go, he uses the argument that she does not love him, only lusts for him, and thus we are given the line,
'Love comforteth, like sunshine after rain'.
I keep nuggets like this in the hope that one day they will fabricate me the perfect wedding speech, the intricate references of which I am sure only I will appreciate!
Other good lines come from the most talkative character in the poem, Venus herself. She is oh-so suggestive, coming out with giggle-fests such as,
'Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry,
Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie.'
Her persistence comes to nought, however, and when she sees him dead, she thinks him so lovely that the boar must have merely wanted to kiss him too and so 'nuzzling in his flank' fondly, he killed him. The message here surely is that the power of love is dangerous and though it wishes to prevent tragedy, it often causes it. Story of Shakespeare's characters' lives I suppose.
I shall leave you with a pretty picture of the pair to entice you to read it. You will laugh at some of the lines (as I am sure is intentional), yet you will also deeply consider what it is to love and be loved (or not).
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