🌹 Stanza 153 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

Here kennel'd in a brake she finds a hound,
And asks the weary caitiff for his master,
And there another licking of his wound,
Gainst venom'd sores the only sovereign plaster;    
And here she meets another sadly scowling,
To whom she speaks, and he replies with howling.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: "Here kennel'd in a brake she finds a hound,"

"Here kennel'd": Here hiding or sheltering like a dog in its kennel. The hound has taken refuge.
"in a brake": In a thicket of thorns and bushes, dense undergrowth. This is where animals hide when wounded or afraid.
"she finds a hound": Venus discovers one of the hunting dogs that was pursuing the boar.
Meaning: "Here she finds a hunting dog hiding in a thorny thicket,"

Line 2: "And asks the weary caitiff for his master,"

"asks the weary caitiff": Questions the tired, miserable creature. "Caitiff" means a wretched, cowardly person or animal.
"for his master": About his owner, about where Adonis is. Venus hopes the dog can lead her to Adonis.
Meaning: "And asks the exhausted, wretched creature about its master,"

Line 3: "And there another licking of his wound,"

"And there another": And in that place she finds yet another dog. This continues the pattern of discovery.
"licking of his wound": Cleaning its injury with its tongue, as animals do instinctively to heal themselves.
Meaning: "And there finds another dog licking its wound,"

Line 4: "Gainst venom'd sores the only sovereign plaster;"

"Gainst venom'd sores": Against poisonous wounds, against infected injuries. "Venom'd" suggests the boar's tusks were like poison.
"the only sovereign plaster": The only effective medicine or cure. "Sovereign" means supremely effective; "plaster" is a healing application.
Meaning: "The only effective cure against poisonous wounds;"

Line 5: "And here she meets another sadly scowling,"

"And here she meets another": And in this place she encounters yet another hound. This creates a pattern of repeated discovery.
"sadly scowling": Looking sorrowful and angry, frowning with grief and displeasure. The dog shows human-like emotions.
Meaning: "And here she encounters another dog looking sadly angry,"

Line 6: "To whom she speaks, and he replies with howling."

"To whom she speaks": Venus addresses this dog directly, trying to communicate with it.
"and he replies with howling": The dog answers her with mournful, loud cries. This suggests the dog is in pain or distress.
Meaning: "She speaks to him, and he answers with mournful howling."

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Repetitive Structure	"Here...And there...And here"	Creates sense of systematic search and mounting evidence of disaster
Personification	Dogs as "caitiff," "sadly scowling," able to "reply"	Gives animals human emotions and communication abilities
Animal Communication	Venus speaking to dogs, dog replying with howling	Shows desperation driving Venus to seek answers from any source
Medical Imagery	"licking...wound," "venom'd sores," "sovereign plaster"	Uses healing imagery to suggest both injury and natural remedies
Parallel Structure	Each couplet presents a new wounded dog	Builds pattern that suggests widespread carnage
Foreshadowing	Wounded, hiding dogs suggest their master's fate	The dogs' condition implies what happened to Adonis
Pathetic Fallacy	Dogs showing human-like sorrow	Projects human emotions onto animals to reflect Venus's emotional state
Escalation	From hiding to wounded to howling with grief	Builds sense of increasing disaster and loss

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza marks Venus's growing realization that something terrible has happened during the hunt. Through her encounters with the wounded and distressed hunting dogs, she pieces together evidence of disaster while maintaining desperate hope that she can still find Adonis alive.

The Evidence Mounts: Each dog Venus encounters provides more evidence that the hunt has gone badly. From hiding in fear to nursing wounds to howling with grief, the dogs tell a story of catastrophe without words.

Communication Through Suffering: Venus's attempt to speak with the dogs shows her desperation to find information about Adonis. When language fails, the dogs communicate through their wounds and howls—a more honest communication than human speech.

Natural vs. Artificial Healing: The image of the dog licking its wound "the only sovereign plaster" suggests that natural, instinctive healing is more effective than human medicine. This reflects the poem's ongoing theme of natural wisdom versus artificial rhetoric.

Foreshadowing Tragedy: The systematic presentation of wounded dogs foreshadows Adonis's fate. If all the hunting dogs are wounded, hiding, and grieving, the implication for their master is ominous.

The Failure of Hierarchy: Venus, a goddess, is reduced to questioning "weary caitiffs"—wretched animals. This shows how love and fear have stripped away her divine authority, making her dependent on the lowest creatures for information.

Emotional Contagion: The dogs' emotions (fear, pain, grief) mirror and amplify Venus's own growing dread. Their suffering becomes a reflection of her internal state.

The Hunt's Aftermath: This stanza shows the aftermath of violent human activity (hunting) on the natural world. The wounded animals represent the cost of human pursuits that Venus warned against.

Pattern of Loss: The repetitive structure ("Here...And there...And here") creates a relentless pattern that suggests loss is everywhere Venus looks. There's no escape from evidence of disaster.

Primitive Communication: The howling response to Venus's speech suggests that in moments of extremity, all beings—divine and animal—are reduced to basic expressions of pain and loss.

This stanza effectively builds suspense and dread while showing Venus's growing desperation and the widespread consequences of the hunt she tried to prevent Adonis from joining.