🌹 Stanza 138 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

Whereat amaz’d, as one that unaware
Hath dropp’d a precious jewel in the flood,
Or ‘stonish’d as night-wanderers often are,
Their light blown out in some mistrustful wood;
Even so confounded in the dark she lay,
Having lost the fair discovery of her way.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: Whereat amaz’d, as one that unaware

"Whereat": At which point; referring to the moment when Adonis suddenly and unexpectedly leaves Venus.
"amaz’d": Stunned, bewildered, filled with astonishment often implying shock, confusion, or a sense of dread. Shakespeare uses this to highlight the sudden and disorienting nature of Venus's reaction.
"as one that unaware": Like someone who unknowingly or accidentally. This sets up a simile, introducing the relatable human experience of a sudden, unforeseen misfortune.
Meaning: At that moment, Venus was stunned, like someone who unexpectedly and without realizing it...

Line 2: Hath dropp’d a precious jewel in the flood,

"Hath dropp’d": Has dropped (an archaic form of "has").
"a precious jewel": This is a metaphor for Adonis. He is depicted as something of immense value, beautiful, rare, and desired, but also something easily lost and irreplaceable. Shakespeare emphasizes the perceived worth of Adonis to Venus and the personal significance of her loss.
"in the flood": Into a river or overwhelming body of water, symbolizing an irretrievable loss. The "flood" also suggests the overwhelming nature of the misfortune and Venus's subsequent despair. Shakespeare chose this imagery to convey a sense of absolute and final loss, where the valuable item is gone forever.
Meaning: ...has dropped a precious jewel into the water, where it is lost forever.

Line 3: Or ‘stonish’d as night-wanderers often are,

"Or ‘stonish’d": Or astonished/stunned. Similar to "amaz’d," this word emphasizes a state of profound shock that renders one immobile or helpless. The apostrophe indicates the elision of the initial "a" from "astonished."
"as night-wanderers often are": Like people who travel or roam in the darkness of night. This introduces a second simile, drawing on the common fear and vulnerability associated with being lost in the dark.
Meaning: Or stunned like travelers who often wander at night,

Line 4: Their light blown out in some mistrustful wood;

"Their light blown out": Their source of light (such as a torch or lamp) has been extinguished. This signifies a sudden and complete loss of guidance, direction, safety, and the ability to see or understand. It represents the abrupt plunging into both literal and metaphorical darkness.
"in some mistrustful wood": In a forest that seems dangerous, menacing, or untrustworthy. "Mistrustful" here is an example of personification, attributing a human quality (untrustworthiness) to the natural surroundings, thereby intensifying the sense of peril, disorientation, and fear for the lost wanderer (and, by extension, for Venus). Shakespeare uses "wood" for its traditional connotations of being lost, wild, and potentially perilous.
Meaning: Whose light has been suddenly put out while they are in a dangerous, untrustworthy forest.

Line 5: Even so confounded in the dark she lay,

"Even so": In precisely the same manner; just like the scenarios described in the preceding similes. This phrase acts as a bridge, linking the illustrative comparisons back to Venus's immediate state.
"confounded": Utterly bewildered, perplexed, thrown into extreme confusion; implying a state of mental distress, defeat, or ruin. This word suggests a deeper and more profound state of disorientation than "amazed" or "astonished."
"in the dark she lay": This refers both to the literal loss of Adonis (her "light" or focus) plunging her into a metaphorical "darkness" of despair and confusion, and potentially to her physical position of helplessness. The "dark" directly parallels the "light blown out" in the previous simile, symbolizing her inability to perceive a way forward.
Meaning: Exactly like that, she lay utterly confused in the darkness (of her despair and surroundings).

Line 6: Having lost the fair discovery of her way.

"Having lost": Because she had lost; the reason for her confounded state.
"the fair discovery of her way": Her clear, obvious, or favorable path or direction. "Fair" here implies clear, easy, or promising. "Discovery" means the act of finding or seeing something, or the revelation of a path. Metaphorically, it refers to her purpose, her goal (to pursue Adonis), and her previous clear understanding of what she needed to do. Now that Adonis has gone, her path is completely obscured.
Meaning: Because she had lost the clear path and direction she was following.

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Simile	"as one that unaware / Hath dropp’d a precious jewel in the flood"	Compares Venus's shock to the relatable and profound misfortune of losing something invaluable and irretrievable, emphasizing the depth of her loss.
Simile	"as night-wanderers often are, / Their light blown out in some mistrustful wood"	Compares Venus's confusion to the terrifying experience of being suddenly plunged into darkness and danger, highlighting her disorientation and vulnerability.
Metaphor	"a precious jewel"	Adonis is equated to something beautiful, rare, and immensely valuable to Venus, underscoring her desire and the magnitude of her perceived loss.
Metaphor	"Their light blown out"	Symbolizes the sudden loss of guidance, hope, clarity, and direction for Venus, leaving her in a state of mental and emotional darkness.
Personification	"mistrustful wood"	Attributes human-like quality of untrustworthiness to the wood, enhancing the sense of danger, threat, and disorienting hostility in Venus's situation.
Imagery	"dropp’d a precious jewel in the flood," "light blown out," "mistrustful wood," "in the dark she lay"	Creates vivid sensory pictures of sudden loss, profound darkness, and fearful disorientation, immersing the reader in Venus's emotional state.
Parallelism	The structure of the two similes ("as one that unaware...Or ‘stonish’d as night-wanderers...") leading to "Even so confounded..."	Emphasizes the multifaceted nature of Venus's shock and reinforces the sudden, complete, and overwhelming nature of her despair by presenting analogous situations.

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza profoundly captures Venus's immediate and overwhelming reaction to Adonis's abrupt departure. The two powerful similes work in tandem to convey the suddenness, completeness, and terrifying nature of her loss. Adonis is presented as her "precious jewel," a valuable possession whose absence plunges her into a state of utter confusion and despair, akin to a night-wanderer losing their guiding light in a treacherous forest. The "dark" and "mistrustful wood" symbolize not only her literal surroundings but also her internal state: a place of fear, disorientation, and hopelessness where her path ("the fair discovery of her way") is entirely obscured.

In the broader context of Venus and Adonis, this stanza marks a critical turning point. It demonstrates the depth of Venus's passion and the profound pain of unrequited love and rejection. Her "confounded" state is the direct consequence of Adonis's coldness and swift exit, signifying the initial failure of her ardent pursuit. This moment foreshadows the poem's tragic arc, moving Venus from an assertive pursuer to a vulnerable figure grappling with the consequences of her overwhelming desire. It underscores the poem's central themes of the destructive power of obsessive love, the pain of rejection, the fleeting nature of beauty and desire, and the often-unpredictable outcomes of passion. Her profound disorientation here sets the stage for the escalating grief and the transformative impact of Adonis's eventual death on both her and the natural world.