🌹 Stanza 3 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

‘Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed,
And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow;
If thou wilt deign this favour, for thy meed
A thousand honey secrets shalt thou know:    
Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses;
And being set, I’ll smother thee with kisses:

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: "'Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed,"

• "Vouchsafe": A formal, courtly term meaning "please grant" or "be gracious enough to do." Venus uses elevated, respectful language despite her divine status, showing her reverence for Adonis.
• "thou wonder": Direct address calling Adonis a "wonder" - something marvelous that inspires awe. This continues the hyperbolic praise while maintaining the formal tone.
• "to alight thy steed": To dismount from your horse. This is both practical (she wants him down from his horse) and symbolic (she wants him to abandon the hunt for her).
• Meaning: "Please be gracious enough, you marvelous being, to get down from your horse."

Line 2: "And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow;"

• "rein his proud head": Control the horse by pulling its proud, raised head down with the reins. "Proud" suggests the horse's spirited, noble nature.
• "to the saddle-bow": The arched front part of the saddle. Pulling the horse's head down to this position would secure it and prevent it from running away.
• Meaning: "And control his proud head by reining it down to the saddle."

Line 3: "If thou wilt deign this favour, for thy meed"

• "If thou wilt deign": "If you will condescend" or "if you will consider it worthy" - again, Venus speaks as if she's the inferior party asking for a favor.
• "this favour": The favor of dismounting and spending time with her.
• "for thy meed": "As your reward" - she promises compensation for granting her request. "Meed" is an archaic term for reward or wages.
• Meaning: "If you will condescend to grant this favor, as your reward..."

Line 4: "A thousand honey secrets shalt thou know:"

• "A thousand": Hyperbolic number suggesting countless or infinite pleasures.
• "honey secrets": Secrets as sweet as honey - intimate knowledge, pleasures, and experiences that are both secret (private, exclusive) and honey-sweet (delightful, sensual).
• "shalt thou know": "You shall know" - a promise of intimate knowledge and experience.
• Meaning: "You shall know a thousand sweet secrets."

Line 5: "Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses;"

• "Here come and sit": Direct invitation to join her in this specific location.
• "where never serpent hisses": A place of safety and purity, free from danger and evil. The serpent references the Biblical serpent in Eden, so this is a place without temptation or corruption - ironically, since Venus herself is the tempter.
• Meaning: "Come and sit here, in this place where no serpent (evil) exists."

Line 6: "And being set, I’ll smother thee with kisses:"

• "And being set": "Once you are seated" - after he accepts her invitation.
• "I'll smother thee with kisses": Venus promises overwhelming physical affection. "Smother" suggests intensity that could be suffocating - both passionate and potentially threatening.
• Meaning: "And once you're seated, I'll overwhelm you with kisses."

🎭 Literary Devices

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza marks Venus's transition from praise to practical seduction. Having established Adonis's supreme beauty in Stanza 2, she now makes concrete proposals: dismount your horse, secure it, and join me for intimate pleasures. The stanza reveals Venus's strategic approach - she uses formal, respectful language that acknowledges his superiority while making increasingly bold offers.

The progression is carefully crafted: first the practical request (dismount), then the promise of reward, then the specific location (a pure, safe place), and finally the explicit promise of physical affection. Venus presents herself as offering a paradise - a place without evil where only pleasure exists. The irony is that she herself represents the temptation she claims is absent.

This stanza is crucial for understanding Venus's character and methods. Despite being a goddess, she positions herself as the petitioner, using courtly language and promising rewards. Yet her offer of being "smothered" with kisses suggests an intensity that could be overwhelming or even dangerous. Shakespeare explores the complexity of seduction - how it can appear as generous offering while being fundamentally possessive and potentially destructive.

The stanza also establishes the central tension between civilization (the hunt, the horse, duty) and natural pleasure (sitting in nature, intimacy, physical gratification). Venus is asking Adonis to abandon his civilized pursuit for natural indulgence, setting up the poem's exploration of duty versus desire.