🌹 Stanza 105 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

‘His brawny sides, with hairy bristles arm’d,
Are better proof than thy spear’s point can enter;
His short thick neck cannot be easily harm’d;
Being ireful, on the lion he will venture:  
The thorny brambles and embracing bushes,
As fearful of him, part, through whom he rushes.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: ‘His brawny sides, with hairy bristles arm’d,

• "His": Refers to the wild boar, the subject of Venus’s warning to Adonis.
• "brawny sides": Describes the boar's muscular and powerful physique. "Brawny" emphasizes physical strength and bulk, suggesting a formidable opponent. Shakespeare uses this to immediately establish the boar's strength.
• "hairy bristles": The stiff, coarse hairs characteristic of a wild boar. These are depicted as a natural defense.
• "arm’d": Equipped or protected, as if wearing armor. This word choice elevates the bristles from mere hair to a defensive covering, emphasizing the boar's natural invulnerability and making it sound like a formidable, armored warrior.
• Meaning: The wild boar's muscular sides are covered and protected by its stiff, coarse hairs, which serve as a natural armor.

Line 2: Are better proof than thy spear’s point can enter;

• "better proof": More resistant or impenetrable; offering superior protection. In this context, "proof" means 'tested strength' or 'resistance to penetration', as in "bulletproof." Shakespeare uses this to directly compare the boar's defense to the ineffectiveness of Adonis's weapon.
• "thy spear’s point": Refers to Adonis's spear tip. "Thy" is an archaic form of "your," directly addressing Adonis.
• "can enter": Can penetrate, pierce, or break through.
• Meaning: These bristly sides are more resistant and impenetrable than your spear tip is capable of piercing.

Line 3: His short thick neck cannot be easily harm’d;

• "His short thick neck": Describes another vital and strong physical attribute of the boar. The combination of "short" and "thick" implies compactness and immense strength, making it difficult to target or injure.
• "cannot be easily harm’d": Emphasizes the extreme toughness and resilience of this part of the boar's body, suggesting that it's nearly invulnerable even in a vulnerable area for other animals.
• Meaning: The boar's strong, compact neck is also extremely difficult to wound or injure.

Line 4: Being ireful, on the lion he will venture:

• "Being ireful": When the boar is filled with anger or wrath; in an enraged state. "Ireful" specifically denotes a state of fierce, consuming anger. This highlights the boar's temperament as much as its physicality.
• "on the lion he will venture": He will dare or undertake to attack or confront a lion. This is a hyperbolic statement underscoring the boar's extreme ferocity and fearlessness, portraying it as brave enough to challenge a creature traditionally seen as the king of beasts. Shakespeare uses this to magnify the danger to Adonis.
• Meaning: When enraged, the boar will even dare to attack a lion.

Line 5: The thorny brambles and embracing bushes,

• "The thorny brambles": Refers to prickly, thorny shrubs or bushes, like blackberry bushes. This imagery contributes to the wild, untamed environment the boar inhabits.
• "embracing bushes": Describes bushes that grow densely and interlace with each other, forming a thick, interwoven mass, as if "embracing." This conveys the density and difficulty of the terrain, making the boar's movement through it even more impressive.
• Meaning: Even the dense, thorny shrubs and tightly interwoven bushes of the wilderness...

Line 6: As fearful of him, part, through whom he rushes.

• "As fearful of him": A vivid personification, attributing the human emotion of fear to inanimate plants. This hyperbolically suggests the boar's immense power is so great that even nature itself yields to it. Shakespeare employs this to further emphasize the boar's formidable and terrifying presence.
• "part": To separate, move aside, or open up.
• "through whom he rushes": Through which (the bushes) the boar charges forcefully and quickly. The use of "whom" for inanimate objects (bushes) is an archaic or poetic usage that adds a sense of agency or personification to the bushes as they respond to the boar. "Rushes" conveys rapid, unstoppable motion.
• Meaning: ...seem to part in fear and move aside as the boar charges powerfully through them.

🎭 Literary Devices

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza serves as Venus's desperate and vivid warning to Adonis, attempting to dissuade him from hunting the wild boar. She meticulously details the boar's formidable physical attributes—its "brawny sides" protected by "hairy bristles arm'd" like armor, and its "short thick neck" that "cannot be easily harm'd"—all to impress upon Adonis the sheer impossibility of wounding it. The hyperbole of the boar challenging a lion ("on the lion he will venture") and the personification of the "fearful" bushes parting before its charge further amplify its terrifying power and unstoppable nature.

In the broader context of Venus and Adonis, this stanza is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it underscores Venus's deep concern and protective love for Adonis, contrasting with Adonis's youthful hubris and singular devotion to the hunt. Her detailed warnings foreshadow his tragic end, highlighting her prophetic insight which he fatally ignores. Secondly, the boar, as described, becomes a powerful symbol of uncontrolled, destructive masculinity and the untamed forces of nature that ultimately prove fatal to beauty and innocence. Venus represents the allure of love, sensuality, and procreation, while the boar (and Adonis's pursuit of it) symbolizes a dangerous, sterile, and ultimately destructive path. The stanza vividly portrays the unyielding power of nature and fate, against which human endeavors, even those of a goddess, are sometimes powerless. It reinforces the poem's themes of beauty versus brutality, love versus death, and the tragic consequences of misplaced passion.