🌹 Stanza 37 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue,
And swelling passion doth provoke a pause;
Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth her wrong;
Being judge in love, she cannot right her cause:    
And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak,
And now her sobs do her intendments break.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: "This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue,"

"This said": Refers to Venus having just finished (or attempted to finish) her passionate discourse and pleas to Adonis.
"impatience chokes": This is personification, where the abstract quality of impatience is given the human action of choking. It signifies that her eagerness, frustration, and overwhelming desire prevent her from speaking further, as if an invisible force is silencing her. Shakespeare uses "chokes" to convey a sudden, violent suppression of speech.
"her pleading tongue": Refers to her tongue, which was actively engaged in persuasive and emotional pleas to Adonis. The phrase emphasizes the desperate and persuasive nature of her previous words.
Meaning: After she has spoken, her overwhelming impatience and frustration become so intense that they physically prevent her from speaking further, silencing her tongue that was just used for fervent appeals.

Line 2: "And swelling passion doth provoke a pause;"

"swelling passion": This refers to her intense emotions – her desire, frustration, and unrequited love – which are rapidly increasing in intensity, like a physical swelling.
"doth provoke a pause": Her overwhelming and rising emotions force her to stop speaking, creating a sudden silence in her discourse. "Provoke" suggests that her passion actively causes this interruption, rather than just being a passive state.
Meaning: Her rapidly intensifying emotions become so overwhelming that they force her to cease speaking, resulting in an involuntary silence.

Line 3: "Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth her wrong;"

"Red cheeks": This is vivid visual imagery, depicting her physical reaction to her intense emotional state—blushing due to embarrassment, anger, passion, or exertion. It's a visible sign of her internal turmoil.
"fiery eyes": A metaphor, comparing her eyes to something on fire. This conveys the intensity of her gaze, indicating extreme emotion such as anger, passion, or despair.
"blaze forth her wrong": This is a powerful metaphor. Her physical appearance (flushed cheeks and intense eyes) dramatically reveals the injustice or injury she feels she has suffered due to Adonis's rejection. "Wrong" here refers to the perceived offense against her love and dignity. Shakespeare uses "blaze forth" to suggest a sudden, bright, and undeniable revelation of her distress.
Meaning: Her flushed cheeks and intensely burning eyes dramatically reveal the profound sense of injustice and emotional suffering she feels from Adonis's rejection.

Line 4: "Being judge in love, she cannot right her cause:"

"Being judge in love": This is an ironic reference to Venus's traditional role as the Roman goddess of love, who presides over, governs, and arbitrates all matters of love and desire. She is understood to be the supreme authority in this realm.
"she cannot right her cause": Despite her divine power and authority as the goddess of love, she is utterly unable to succeed in her own romantic pursuit with Adonis. "Right her cause" means to win her argument, prevail in her suit, or achieve her desired outcome. The irony highlights her helplessness in this particular situation.
Meaning: Despite her supreme authority and power as the goddess who governs all matters of love, she finds herself unable to win her own suit and gain Adonis's affection.

Line 5: "And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak,"

"now she weeps": Indicates a shift in her emotional display, from frustrated silence to overt crying, signifying her profound despair and helplessness.
"now she fain would speak": "Fain" means eagerly or gladly. This shows her intense desire to articulate her feelings, continue her plea, or express her intentions, even as she is overcome by emotion. It portrays her internal conflict between the urge to communicate and the physical manifestation of her distress.
Meaning: At one moment she is overcome by tears, and at the next, she desperately wishes to speak and continue her arguments.

Line 6: "And now her sobs do her intendments break."

"her sobs": Refers to the audible sounds and physical convulsions of her crying.
"do her intendments break": "Intendments" means her intentions, purposes, or what she means to say. Her sobs physically interrupt and prevent her from completing or even starting her intended communications. The repetition of "And now" (anaphora) emphasizes the recurring, cyclical nature of her emotional distress constantly interrupting her will to speak.
Meaning: Her uncontrollable sobbing constantly interrupts and shatters her ability to express what she intends to say.

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Personification	"impatience chokes her pleading tongue," "swelling passion doth provoke a pause," "her sobs do her intendments break"	Gives abstract emotions human actions, emphasizing their overwhelming power over Venus and the physical impact of her distress.
Metaphor	"fiery eyes," "blaze forth her wrong"	Vividly portrays the intensity of Venus's emotions, comparing her eyes to fire and her physical display to a revealing flame, emphasizing the visibility of her pain.
Irony	"Being judge in love, she cannot right her cause"	Highlights the paradoxical and frustrating situation of Venus, the goddess of love, being powerless in her own romantic pursuit, underscoring her vulnerability.
Anaphora	"And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak, / And now her sobs do her intendments break."	The repetition of "And now" emphasizes the immediate, fluctuating, and relentless nature of her emotional turmoil, showing her constant struggle between tears and speech.
Imagery	"Red cheeks and fiery eyes"	Creates a strong visual picture of Venus's distress, making her emotional state tangible and immediate for the reader.
Hyperbole	"fiery eyes," "blaze forth her wrong"	Exaggerates the physical manifestation of her emotions to underscore their intensity and overwhelming nature.

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza marks a critical turning point in Venus's pursuit of Adonis, signifying her shift from eloquent, persuasive argument to overwhelming, inarticulate emotional breakdown. It vividly portrays her frustration and powerlessness as her desires are thwarted by Adonis's stubborn resistance. The most significant aspect is the profound irony presented: Venus, the goddess of love and its ultimate authority ("judge in love"), is utterly unable to "right her cause" or win her own romantic suit. This subverts her divine power, reducing her to a state of human-like despair, marked by choking impatience, swelling passion, tears, and sobs.

In the broader context of the poem, this stanza highlights the futility of even divine power when confronted with free will and disinterest. It underscores the central theme of unrequited love and the tragic imbalance between Venus's intense, experienced passion and Adonis's youthful, cold, and chaste indifference. Her inability to command love, despite her status, foreshadows the ultimate failure of her mission and deepens the pathos surrounding her character. It emphasizes that love, in this narrative, cannot be forced or reasoned into being, even by its own goddess, setting the stage for the poem's melancholic conclusion.