Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis
‘Thou canst not see one winkle in my brow;
Mine eyes are grey and bright, and quick in turning;
My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow;
My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning;
My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt.
Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt.
| Device | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Hyperbole | "Thou canst not see one winkle in my brow" | Emphasizes Venus's perfect, unblemished youth and beauty, suggesting an ideal state. |
| Hyperbole | "my marrow burning" | Creates a powerful image of intense internal passion and lust, conveying the depth of Venus's desire. |
| Hyperbole | "Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt" | Exaggerates the overwhelming sensation of pleasure and surrender Venus anticipates from physical contact, highlighting her fervent desire and the imagined transformative power of their union. |
| Simile | "My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow" | Compares Venus's beauty to the renewal of spring, emphasizing its constant growth, freshness, and cyclical nature rather than decline. |
| Imagery | "Mine eyes are grey and bright, and quick in turning" | Appeals to the sense of sight, creating a vivid picture of Venus's lively, captivating, and expressive eyes. |
| Imagery (Tactile) | "My flesh is soft and plump" | Appeals to the sense of touch, emphasizing the desirable, youthful, and yielding nature of her body. |
| Sensory Language | "My smooth moist hand" | Appeals to the sense of touch, creating a very intimate and sensual description that invites physical contact. |
| Alliteration / Assonance | "soft and plump," "smooth moist," "marrow burning" | Adds to the musicality and flow of the verse, making the descriptions more appealing and memorable, subtly reinforcing the sensual nature of the language. |
This stanza is a pivotal part of Venus's sustained and highly detailed attempt to seduce Adonis. Through a series of self-descriptions, Venus presents herself as the epitome of youthful, unblemished beauty and overwhelming vitality. She meticulously highlights every desirable physical attribute, from her wrinkle-free brow and bright, expressive eyes, to her "soft and plump" flesh and "smooth moist hand." The key emphasis is not just on her current beauty but on its perennial nature, metaphorically likened to the constantly renewing spring, suggesting she is immune to the ravages of time.
The most significant lines, "my marrow burning" and "Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt," underscore the intensity of her internal desire and the profound, almost overwhelming, physical effect she expects their union to have. These lines move beyond mere physical description to convey a deep, burning passion and an eager readiness for sexual surrender.
In the broader context of Venus and Adonis, this stanza reinforces Venus's role as the aggressive, persistent embodiment of natural, fertile, and often overwhelming love and lust. Her verbose and highly sensory descriptions contrast sharply with Adonis's youthful reticence and his preference for the chaste pursuit of the hunt. This stanza encapsulates the poem's central conflict: the powerful, all-consuming nature of desire (Venus) attempting to capture and transform a more aloof, unready, and perhaps even asexual youth (Adonis). It showcases Venus's confidence in her own allure and her strategic attempt to overwhelm Adonis with promises of sensual delight, setting the stage for the poem's exploration of desire, beauty, and the often unrequited or mismatched nature of passion.