🌹 Stanza 133 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

‘Call it not, love, for Love to heaven is fled,
Since sweating Lust on earth usurp’d his name;
Under whose simple semblance he hath fed
Upon fresh beauty, blotting it with blame;  
Which the hot tyrant stains and soon bereaves,
As caterpillars do the tender leaves.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: ‘Call it not, love, for Love to heaven is fled,

"Call it not, love": Venus is speaking to Adonis, instructing him not to mistake the intense physical desire or pursuit for what she considers true, pure 'Love'. This phrase sets up a crucial distinction that Venus wishes to make.
"for Love to heaven is fled": The capitalized 'Love' refers to an idealized, pure, and often spiritual form of affection or passion, which Venus claims has ascended from the earthly realm back to its celestial origin. Shakespeare uses personification here to elevate the concept of true Love beyond human reach, implying that what remains on Earth is a corrupted imitation.
Meaning: "Do not call it 'love', my dear, because genuine, pure Love has departed from the earth and returned to heaven."

Line 2: Since sweating Lust on earth usurp’d his name;

"Since sweating Lust": 'Sweating' conveys a sense of physical exertion, heat, and perhaps an unpleasant, animalistic, or base quality, emphasizing the purely carnal and often aggressive nature of Lust. 'Lust' is personified as a powerful and repulsive entity. Shakespeare chose "sweating" to evoke a vivid, visceral image of unbridled physical desire, contrasting sharply with the ethereal "Love" of the previous line.
"on earth usurp’d his name": 'Usurped' means to seize power or a position illegally or by force. Here, it signifies that Lust has deceitfully and wrongfully taken the identity, title, and societal recognition that rightfully belong to true Love. This establishes Lust as a deceptive impostor.
Meaning: "This is because on Earth, a perspiring, base Lust has forcefully and illegitimately taken over the name and identity that properly belong to true Love."

Line 3: Under whose simple semblance he hath fed

"Under whose simple semblance": 'Whose' refers back to 'Lust'. 'Simple semblance' means a seemingly innocent, unadorned, or unassuming appearance – a deceptive facade. Lust conceals its true, destructive nature behind a veneer of simplicity or even by mimicking the outward show of genuine affection.
"he hath fed": 'He' refers to the personified Lust. 'Hath fed' implies that Lust has nourished itself, grown powerful, or consumed its victims, highlighting its parasitic and destructive nature. The act of feeding suggests a voracious and insatiable appetite.
Meaning: "Beneath Lust's seemingly innocent or straightforward appearance, this same Lust has nourished itself and grown strong."

Line 4: Upon fresh beauty, blotting it with blame;

"Upon fresh beauty": This refers to the object of Lust's consumption, specifically youth, innocence, and natural allure, which in the poem's context, is Adonis himself. 'Fresh' emphasizes purity and unspoiled vitality.
"blotting it with blame": 'Blotting' means to defile, stain, or mar, like a stain on clean fabric. 'Blame' refers to the moral stain, the shame, or the corruption that Lust imparts. True beauty, when touched by Lust, is sullied and rendered impure or morally tainted. Shakespeare uses "blotting" to evoke a sense of irreparable damage and dishonor.
Meaning: "It has fed upon and consumed youthful innocence and natural beauty, defiling it and leaving it stained with moral corruption and shame."

Line 5: Which the hot tyrant stains and soon bereaves,

"Which the hot tyrant": 'Which' refers to the 'fresh beauty' mentioned previously. 'Hot tyrant' is another potent personification of Lust. 'Hot' reinforces its intense, passionate, and often uncontrolled nature, while 'tyrant' emphasizes its oppressive, cruel, and absolute power over its victims, further highlighting its destructive authority.
"stains and soon bereaves": 'Stains' reiterates the idea of defilement and corruption. 'Bereaves' means to deprive of something, to take away forcibly, often implying loss of vitality, essence, or even life, or to make desolate. Lust not only corrupts but also exhausts and diminishes.
Meaning: "This 'hot tyrant' (Lust) not only contaminates and defiles this beauty but also quickly strips it of its essence or vitality, leaving it desolate."

Line 6: As caterpillars do the tender leaves.

"As caterpillars do the tender leaves": This is a vivid simile that clearly illustrates Lust's destructive action. Caterpillars are well-known for their voracious appetites, consuming leaves and leaving them damaged or skeletal.
"tender leaves": Represent the vulnerable, delicate, and fresh 'beauty' that Lust preys upon. This comparison emphasizes the innocence and fragility of the victim and the thoroughness of the destruction.
Meaning: "Just as caterpillars voraciously consume and destroy soft, young leaves."

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Personification	"Love to heaven is fled," "sweating Lust," "hot tyrant stains"	Elevates abstract concepts like Love and Lust into active, sentient beings. 'Love' becomes a divine entity, while 'Lust' is portrayed as a vile, destructive force, giving them agency and making their conflict more vivid and impactful.
Metaphor	"Lust... usurp'd his name"	Compares Lust to an illegitimate ruler, highlighting its deceptive and forceful appropriation of Love's identity. This underscores the idea that what is perceived as love on Earth is a false, stolen version.
Simile	"As caterpillars do the tender leaves"	Creates a vivid, relatable image of destruction. It emphasizes the complete and insidious defilement of 'fresh beauty' by Lust, likening it to a natural process of consumption and ruin, making the abstract concept of corruption tangible.
Imagery	"sweating Lust," "fresh beauty," "tender leaves," "blotting it with blame"	Engages the senses and creates strong visual and tactile impressions. "Sweating Lust" evokes repulsion and physicality, while "fresh beauty" and "tender leaves" highlight innocence and vulnerability, intensifying the sense of violation when they are "blotted" or consumed.
Alliteration	"sweating Lust," "blotting it with blame," "hot tyrant"	Adds aural emphasis and flow to the lines, making them more memorable and impactful. It subtly links the words, reinforcing the negative connotations associated with Lust.
Conceit	The extended comparison of Lust as a deceptive, consuming entity that preys on beauty.	Develops a complex and detailed comparison throughout the stanza, presenting Lust as a multi-faceted enemy: an usurper, a feeder, a blighter, a tyrant, and a caterpillar. This elaborate comparison deepens the understanding of Lust's destructive nature.
Diction	"usurp'd," "semblance," "blotting," "bereaves," "tyrant"	Shakespeare employs strong, often negative, verbs and nouns to convey the power and destructiveness of Lust. Words like "usurp'd" and "tyrant" evoke political oppression, while "blotting" and "bereaves" suggest defilement and tragic loss, intensifying the moral condemnation of Lust.

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

Stanza 133 is a pivotal moment in Venus's elaborate attempt to persuade Adonis to yield to her advances. Through a masterful use of language, Venus constructs a powerful argument to differentiate between what she defines as true "Love" and base "Lust," thereby attempting to align her own desires with the former and disparage Adonis's resistance as prudishness.

The core meaning of the stanza is a stark condemnation of Lust as a destructive, deceptive, and impure force that has usurped the rightful place of Love on Earth. Venus argues that true, pure Love has fled to heaven, leaving humanity with only a corrupted imitation. This impostor, Lust, is personified as a "sweating" and "hot tyrant" that preys upon "fresh beauty," staining it with "blame" and ultimately "bereaving" it, much like caterpillars devour "tender leaves." This vivid imagery emphasizes the parasitic and consuming nature of carnal desire when divorced from pure affection.

In the broader context of Venus and Adonis, this stanza is highly significant: 1. Defining Desire: It contributes to the poem's central exploration of different forms of desire—the physical versus the spiritual, the fertile versus the barren, the consuming versus the nurturing. Venus here tries to intellectualize and moralize her intense physical attraction, ironically attempting to distance her own passionate pursuit from the very Lust she condemns. 2. Venus's Hypocrisy/Self-Deception: The stanza highlights the inherent contradiction in Venus's character. While she eloquently denounces Lust, her actions throughout the poem are often driven by an unbridled, possessive, and almost violent passion that mirrors the very "hot tyrant" she describes. This reveals either her hypocrisy in trying to rationalize her desires or her genuine belief that her love, despite its intensity, is qualitatively different from the destructive Lust she depicts. 3. The Fleeting Nature of Beauty: By comparing Lust's impact to caterpillars destroying leaves, the stanza underscores the poem's pervasive theme of the transience of beauty and youth. Lust not only corrupts but also rapidly depletes vitality, a theme that resonates with Adonis's eventual death and the general fleetingness of life and pleasure. 4. Moral Cautionary Tale: The stanza serves as a warning against the dangers of succumbing to uncontrolled passion. It suggests that mistaking Lust for Love leads to defilement and loss, providing a moral undercurrent to the otherwise sensuous narrative. This reflects Shakespeare's broader interest in the psychological and ethical complexities of human desire. 5. Foreboding: The destructive imagery used for Lust ("blotting," "bereaves," "tyrant," "caterpillars") subtly foreshadows the tragic outcome for Adonis, linking the destructive nature of unchecked desire (both Venus's and potentially Adonis's eventual yielding to a destructive hunt) to the poem's ultimate conclusion.