🌹 Stanza 137 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

Which after him she darts, as one on shore
Gazing upon a late-embarked friend,
Till the wild waves will have him seen no more,
Whose ridges with the meeting clouds contend:       
So did the merciless and pitchy night
Fold in the object that did feed her sight.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: "Which after him she darts, as one on shore"

"Which": Refers to Venus's eyes or her gaze, implicitly understood from the preceding narrative where she is watching Adonis.
"after him she darts": Implies a swift, intense, and focused movement of her gaze, almost like a physical projectile shot in his direction. It emphasizes her desperate longing to maintain visual contact and the urgency of her emotional connection.
"as one on shore": Introduces an extended simile, comparing Venus's intense looking to someone standing on land, watching a ship depart. This sets a scene of imminent separation and emotional distress.
Meaning: "Her gaze, like an arrow, shoots after him, just as someone standing on the shore would watch."

Line 2: "Gazing upon a late-embarked friend,"

"Gazing upon": Suggests a prolonged, fixed, and emotionally charged stare, indicating reluctance to break visual contact.
"late-embarked friend": Refers to a friend who has recently boarded a ship and is now sailing away. This phrase completes the first part of the simile, providing the specific scenario of separation from a beloved one by sea. The "late-embarked" implies the friend is still somewhat visible but increasingly distant.
Meaning: "Staring intently at a friend who has recently boarded a ship and is sailing away,"

Line 3: "Till the wild waves will have him seen no more,"

"Till the wild waves": Refers to the rough, turbulent ocean. "Wild" emphasizes the chaotic and uncontrollable nature of the sea. The waves are personified as active agents in obscuring the view.
"will have him seen no more": Indicates the inevitable outcome where the waves obscure the friend from sight, making him disappear from the observer's view. This highlights the helplessness of the watcher against the forces of nature.
Meaning: "Until the unruly ocean waves cause him to disappear from sight,"

Line 4: "Whose ridges with the meeting clouds contend:"

"Whose ridges": Refers to the crests or peaks of the waves.
"with the meeting clouds contend": Means the wave crests are so high and powerful that they appear to struggle or clash with the low-hanging clouds on the horizon. This hyperbole emphasizes the extreme turbulence and vastness of the sea, blurring the distinction between sea and sky and intensifying the sense of a wild, engulfing environment.
Meaning: "Whose high wave crests seem to battle with the low-hanging clouds at the horizon."

Line 5: "So did the merciless and pitchy night"

"So did": This phrase signals the conclusion of the simile and applies its meaning back to Venus and Adonis, drawing a direct parallel between the disappearing friend and Adonis.
"merciless": Describes the night as uncaring, cruel, and without pity for Venus's desires or emotional state. This personification amplifies the sense of helplessness and the harshness of the impending darkness.
"pitchy night": Refers to a night as dark as pitch (tar), emphasizing the absolute blackness that is about to descend and envelop Adonis, making him invisible.
Meaning: "In the same way, the cruel and intensely dark night,"

Line 6: "Fold in the object that did feed her sight."

"Fold in": Means to enclose or envelop completely. It suggests the night physically wrapping around Adonis, consuming him from view.
"the object that did feed her sight": A powerful metaphorical description of Adonis. He is the sole focus and sustenance of Venus's visual attention and emotional longing; her sight feeds on him, implying his presence is vital to her, and his disappearance is a form of visual and emotional starvation.
Meaning: "Enveloped and concealed the very person who sustained her vision and emotional well-being."

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Simile	"as one on shore...Till the wild waves...contend"	Compares Venus's desperate gaze to someone watching a friend depart by sea, emphasizing her intense longing, the pain of separation, and the inevitability of loss.
Personification	"wild waves will have him seen no more"	Gives the waves agency, making them active forces in obscuring the friend, highlighting the uncontrollable power of nature against human will.
Personification	"Whose ridges with the meeting clouds contend"	Imbues the waves with a sense of struggle or battle, intensifying the imagery of a chaotic and powerful natural environment.
Personification	"the merciless and pitchy night / Fold in the object"	Portrays the night as a cruel, active entity that deliberately covers Adonis, reflecting Venus's sense of helplessness and the harshness of the impending darkness.
Metaphor	"the object that did feed her sight"	Describes Adonis as essential visual and emotional nourishment for Venus, highlighting her deep dependency on him and the emptiness his absence creates.
Sensory Imagery	"pitchy night," "seen no more," "feed her sight," "Gazing"	Appeals primarily to the sense of sight, immersing the reader in Venus's visual experience of loss and the encroaching darkness.
Foreshadowing	The imagery of disappearance and envelopment by darkness	Subtly hints at Adonis's ultimate disappearance through death, deepening the sense of impending tragedy that pervades the poem.
Pathetic Fallacy	"wild waves," "merciless and pitchy night"	The turbulent and uncaring natural elements reflect Venus's emotional turmoil and the harsh, indifferent reality of her unrequited passion.

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza profoundly captures Venus's desperate longing and the painful onset of separation from Adonis. The extended simile, comparing her gaze to someone watching a friend disappear into the wild, contending sea, vividly portrays her intense emotional attachment and her helplessness against the forces of nature. The shift back from the simile to the "merciless and pitchy night" directly equates the sea's obscuring power with the night's ability to "Fold in" Adonis. For Venus, who is visually captivated and emotionally sustained by Adonis ("the object that did feed her sight"), his disappearance into the darkness is a form of profound deprivation.

In the broader context of Venus and Adonis, this stanza is highly significant for several reasons:

Unrequited Love and Obsession: It emphasizes Venus's obsessive and singular focus on Adonis. Her gaze "feeding" on him underscores her extreme desire and the emotional vacuum his absence creates, highlighting the one-sided nature of their relationship.
The Power of Nature vs. Desire: The "wild waves" and the "merciless and pitchy night" represent powerful, indifferent forces of nature that act against Venus's will and desires. This foreshadows the ultimate triumph of nature (and fate) over Venus's attempts to control Adonis's destiny and prevent his tragic death. Despite her divine status, she is powerless against these elemental forces, mirroring her inability to sway Adonis's will.
Foreshadowing of Loss and Death: The imagery of Adonis disappearing into a "pitchy night" and being "Fold[ed] in" strongly foreshadows his eventual death. The "merciless" nature of the night can be seen as a premonition of the finality of death, which will permanently remove him from her sight and her life, transforming him into something unseen and elusive, like the friend lost at sea.
Sensory Deprivation: For Venus, Adonis's beauty is paramount. His disappearance from her sight is a form of profound sensory and emotional starvation, intensifying her anguish and demonstrating the extent of her dependence on his physical presence.