🌹 Stanza 41 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

At this Adonis smiles as in disdain,
That in each cheek appears a pretty dimple:
Love made those hollows, if himself were slain,
He might be buried in a tomb so simple;     
Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie,
Why, there Love liv’d, and there he could not die.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: At this Adonis smiles as in disdain,

"At this": Refers to the persistent and passionate advances, pleas, and arguments that Venus has just made to Adonis, seeking his affection.
"Adonis smiles": Indicates Adonis's reaction to Venus's ardent pursuit. It's not a smile of amusement or reciprocated interest, but a more complex, almost involuntary expression.
"as in disdain": Suggests that his smile is tinged with contempt, indifference, or a sense of superiority towards Venus's overtures. It conveys his youth's aloofness and disinterest in love, despite Venus being the goddess of it. Shakespeare uses "as in" to imply the appearance or quality of the disdain, making it less of an overt act and more a natural emanation of his youthful, unaffected nature.
Meaning: "Upon hearing Venus's advances, Adonis smiles as if with a look of scorn or indifference."

Line 2: That in each cheek appears a pretty dimple:

"That": Acts as a conjunction, connecting the smile to its immediate physical consequence; it's the result of his smile.
"in each cheek appears": Describes the physical manifestation of his smile, specifically the formation of dimples. This highlights his youthful, unspoiled beauty, which is so profound it even shines through his expression of disdain.
"a pretty dimple": Emphasizes the aesthetic appeal of this physical feature. "Pretty" is a simple yet powerful adjective that underscores Adonis's inherent beauty, making even his negative emotional display charming and captivating. The dimples are presented as an almost irresistible physical attribute.
Meaning: "As a result of his smile, a charming dimple becomes visible in each of his cheeks."

Line 3: Love made those hollows, if himself were slain,

"Love made those hollows": Personifies Love (either Cupid, the god of love, or the abstract concept of love itself) as the conscious creator of Adonis's dimples ("those hollows"). This implies that Adonis's beauty is divinely crafted or predestined to be an instrument or vessel for love, elevating a simple physical feature to a profound, almost sacred origin.
"if himself were slain": Introduces a hypothetical, paradoxical scenario. "Himself" refers to Love (the creator). The idea is that if Love were ever to be defeated or killed, there would be a specific place for its burial. This sets up the central conceit of the stanza, exploring where Love might find its end.
Meaning: "Love itself created those dimples, planning for them to be a burial place if Love were ever to be defeated or killed."

Line 4: He might be buried in a tomb so simple;

"He might be buried": Continues the hypothetical scenario from the previous line, referring to Love (the personified entity). It implies a potential resting place for Love if its existence were to cease.
"in a tomb so simple": Metaphorically identifies Adonis's dimples as this potential "tomb." "Simple" describes the small, unadorned, and unassuming nature of a dimple, contrasting with the profound power attributed to it. The irony here is that a 'tomb' usually signifies death, but for Love, as the next lines reveal, it signifies something else entirely.
Meaning: "Love could potentially be interred in those small, uncomplicated hollows, as if in a tomb."

Line 5: Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie,

"Foreknowing well": Attributes a quality of prescience or divine foresight to Love (the creator of the dimples). This implies that Love intelligently planned this outcome. Love knew in advance the paradoxical power of the dimples.
"if there he came to lie": "There" refers back to the dimples (the "hollows" or "tomb"). "To lie" means to rest or be interred, continuing the imagery of burial.
Meaning: "For Love knew well in advance that if it were to come to rest in those dimples,"

Line 6: Why, there Love liv’d, and there he could not die.

"Why, there Love liv’d": This reveals the core paradox and the true nature of the dimples. Instead of being a place of death for Love, they are a place of eternal life. The 'tomb' becomes a cradle. "Why" emphasizes the surprising, almost logical, conclusion to the riddle.
"and there he could not die": Reinforces the previous statement, making the paradox absolute. Adonis's beauty, specifically his dimples, is so potent and inherently connected to Love that it renders Love immortal when resting within them. It suggests the dimples are not merely a place for Love, but are intrinsically of Love, an essence that prevents its demise.
Meaning: "Why, Love would not die there at all; instead, Love would actually live eternally in those dimples."

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Personification	"Love made those hollows, if himself were slain"	Attributes human-like actions and foresight ("made," "slain," "Foreknowing well") to the abstract concept of "Love." This elevates Love to a conscious, strategic entity, emphasizing its power and its deliberate interaction with Adonis's beauty.
Metaphor	"a tomb so simple" (referring to the dimples)	Compares the small, unassuming dimples to a burial place. This initially sets up an ironic expectation of death for Love, which is then dramatically subverted, highlighting the unexpected power of Adonis's beauty to sustain rather than destroy.
Paradox	"if there he came to lie, / Why, there Love liv’d, and there he could not die."	Presents a seemingly contradictory statement that contains a deeper truth. The "tomb" (dimples) that should signify death for Love instead becomes the source of its eternal life. This emphasizes the extraordinary, almost supernatural, power of Adonis's beauty to transcend even death for the concept of Love itself.
Irony	The "tomb" for Love is where Love lives eternally.	Creates a contrast between expectation and reality. The anticipated outcome of a "tomb" (death) is precisely the opposite of what occurs (eternal life). This highlights the captivating and irresistible nature of Adonis's beauty, which subverts conventional notions of life and death for Love.
Hyperbole	The idea that Love itself can be sustained and made immortal by Adonis's dimples.	Exaggerates the power and effect of Adonis's physical beauty, particularly his dimples. This emphasizes his unparalleled attractiveness and the profound, almost divine, impact he has on Venus and the very concept of Love, elevating him beyond a mere mortal.
Alliteration	"Love liv’d"	The repetition of the "l" sound creates a gentle, flowing rhythm, subtly drawing attention to the central concept of Love's life and endurance within Adonis.
Imagery	"pretty dimple," "hollows," "tomb"	Creates vivid mental pictures of Adonis's physical features and the metaphorical spaces within them. This sensory detail helps the reader visualize Adonis's beauty and understand the abstract concepts being conveyed.

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza serves as a profound testament to Adonis's almost divine and utterly captivating beauty, even in his youth and disdain. Despite his rejection of Venus's advances, his physical perfection, particularly the "pretty dimples" formed by his smile of scorn, is depicted as possessing an extraordinary power. The core meaning lies in the paradox that Adonis's beauty is not just attractive; it is so potent that it becomes the very source and eternal vessel for Love itself. The dimples, far from being a simple physical feature, are elevated to a sacred space where Love, if hypothetically "slain," would find not its end but its immortality.

In the broader context of the poem, this stanza is highly significant. It establishes the overwhelming nature of Adonis's allure, which even the goddess of love, Venus, cannot resist. It explains why Venus is so utterly consumed by her passion for him, despite his youth, disinterest, and even cruelty. The stanza suggests that Adonis, though unwilling, embodies Love in its purest, most powerful form. This sets up the central conflict: Venus, the embodiment of active, desiring love, is fixated on Adonis, who passively is love but refuses to engage with it. This dynamic foreshadows the tragic outcome, as such immense beauty and its inherent connection to Love cannot truly perish but will ultimately transform. It also subtly hints at the poem's underlying exploration of different facets of love – passionate, unrequited, natural, and destructive – and the immense power beauty holds over them all.