🌹 Stanza 116 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

‘For there his smell with others being mingled,     
The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt,
Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled
With much ado the cold fault cleanly out;
Then do they spend their mouths: Echo replies,
As if another chase were in the skies.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: ‘For there his smell with others being mingled,

• "his smell": Refers to the scent of Adonis, specifically as a hunted animal (the boar) whose unique scent the hounds are attempting to track. Shakespeare uses "smell" directly, emphasizing the sensory focus of the hunt.
• "with others being mingled": Means that Adonis's scent is mixed and confused with the scents of other animals in the hunting ground. This makes it difficult for the hounds to isolate his specific trail.
• Meaning: "Because in that place, his scent was mixed with the scents of other animals,"

Line 2: The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt,

• "hot": Here implies eagerness, intensity, and being keen on the scent, suggesting the hounds are highly active and passionate in their pursuit.
• "scent-snuffing hounds": A vivid, descriptive compound adjective emphasizing the hounds' primary hunting method – their reliance on their sense of smell, diligently sniffing for the trail. Shakespeare chose this to precisely illustrate their specialized skill.
• "driven to doubt": Means the hounds are forced into uncertainty and confusion; they lose their clear conviction about the trail. This personifies the hounds, attributing a human-like cognitive state of uncertainty to them.
• Meaning: "The eager, keen-nosed hounds become confused and uncertain,"

Line 3: Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled

• "Ceasing their clamorous cry": Refers to the hounds stopping their loud, continuous barking and baying, which is their characteristic sound when they are on a clear, fresh trail. "Clamorous" emphasizes the noise and excitement of the hunt.
• "singled": Means to isolate, identify, or pick out a specific scent or trail from amongst many.
• Meaning: "Stopping their noisy barking until they have isolated"

Line 4: With much ado the cold fault cleanly out;

• "With much ado": An idiom meaning with great difficulty, after a lot of effort, trouble, or fuss. "Ado" means trouble or difficulty. Shakespeare uses it to convey the challenge the hounds face.
• "cold fault": A specific hunting term. "Cold" here means stale, faint, or old (as opposed to a 'hot' or fresh scent). "Fault" refers to a break or interruption in the scent trail. So, a "cold fault" is a lost trail that is difficult to pick up.
• "cleanly out": Means to clearly and precisely identify or resolve the lost trail. They manage to discern where the scent disappeared or where the correct path continues.
• Meaning: "With great difficulty, the faint, lost trail clearly."

Line 5: Then do they spend their mouths: Echo replies,

• "Then do they spend their mouths": A hunting idiom meaning that the hounds begin to bark and bay loudly and continuously. They 'expend' their voices in clamor once they have recovered the trail.
• "Echo replies": The sound of the hounds' barking is so loud and pervasive that it creates an echo, which is personified here as actively 'replying' to their cries, almost as if it's another participant in the chase.
• Meaning: "Then they loudly bark and bay: and the echo answers back,"

Line 6: As if another chase were in the skies.

• "As if another chase were in the skies": This vivid hyperbole suggests that the echo is so distinct, strong, and extensive that it sounds as though another group of hunters and hounds is simultaneously conducting a separate hunt high up in the sky.
• Meaning: "As though another hunting party were underway in the heavens."

🎭 Literary Devices

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza offers a detailed, vivid depiction of a hunting scene, focusing on the highly trained yet fallible instincts of the hounds. It describes the momentary confusion of the dogs when Adonis's scent is mingled with others, their struggle to recover the "cold fault" or lost trail, and their eventual success, marked by renewed clamor that echoes dramatically.

In the broader context of Venus and Adonis, this stanza reinforces several key themes:

• The Hunt as a Central Metaphor: The poem uses the hunt as an extended metaphor for the pursuit of desire, particularly Venus's relentless and unrequited pursuit of Adonis. Just as the hounds are persistent despite temporary setbacks, Venus remains determined to capture Adonis's affection.
• Adonis's Elusiveness: The difficulty the hounds have in tracking Adonis's scent mirrors his own elusive nature and his resistance to Venus's advances. He is not easily caught, either literally (as a boar) or metaphorically (as an object of desire).
• Nature's Raw Power and Instinct: The stanza highlights the intricate details of animal instinct and the way nature (mingled scents, echoes) interacts with human endeavors (the hunt). It emphasizes the primal forces at play, which ultimately contribute to Adonis's tragic end.
• Foreshadowing and Inevitability: The hounds' eventual recovery of the trail and their renewed, amplified cry serve as a subtle foreshadowing. Despite the temporary confusion, the hunt will resume with full force, leading inevitably to the discovery and demise of Adonis by the boar. The overwhelming sound described by the echo in the skies amplifies the sense of a grand, unstoppable, and ultimately fated event.
• Sensory Immersion: Shakespeare's use of rich sensory details (smell, sound) deeply immerses the reader in the world of the poem, emphasizing the tangible, often violent, reality of the natural world and the hunt.