🌹 Stanza 72 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

‘What! canst thou talk?’ quoth she, ‘hast thou a tongue?
O! would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing;       
Thy mermaid’s voice hath done me double wrong;
I had my load before, now press’d with bearing:
Melodious discord, heavenly tune, harsh-sounding,
Ear’s deep-sweet music, and heart’s deep-sore wounding.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: ‘What! canst thou talk?’ quoth she, ‘hast thou a tongue?

"What! canst thou talk?": Venus expresses profound surprise and disbelief that Adonis is capable of speech. This highlights her previous perception of him, perhaps as an object of desire whose silence or limited responses she had been grappling with.
"quoth she": A traditional, archaic phrase meaning "said she." It serves as a simple narrative indicator of who is speaking.
"hast thou a tongue?": A rhetorical question that reinforces Venus's astonishment and the impactful nature of Adonis's sudden articulation, suggesting his voice is a new, unexpected, and powerful element in their interaction.
Meaning: "What! Can you talk?" she said, "Do you really have a tongue?"

Line 2: O! would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing;

"O! would thou hadst not": An exclamation of strong regret, expressing Venus's wish that Adonis did not possess the ability to speak. This immediately signals that his words, despite his beautiful voice, are causing her distress.
"or I had no hearing": Venus suggests an alternative solution to her suffering: that she herself were deaf. This emphasizes the painful impact of his voice and words, indicating she would rather be deprived of a sense than endure the pain they inflict.
Meaning: "Oh! I wish you didn't have a tongue, or that I were deaf;"

Line 3: Thy mermaid’s voice hath done me double wrong;

"Thy mermaid’s voice": A powerful allusion comparing Adonis's voice to that of a mermaid (or siren). Mermaids were mythical creatures known for their incredibly beautiful, enchanting songs that lured sailors to their destruction. This implies Adonis's voice is captivating but ultimately dangerous and destructive to Venus's emotional well-being. Shakespeare uses this to introduce the paradox of beauty causing harm.
"hath done me double wrong": Means "has harmed me in two ways" or "has compounded my suffering." This suggests Venus was already experiencing a "wrong" or burden, and Adonis's speaking has added another layer of pain, intensifying her distress.
Meaning: "Your enchanting, siren-like voice has caused me twice the pain;"

Line 4: I had my load before, now press’d with bearing:

"I had my load before": A metaphor comparing Venus's pre-existing emotional burden (her unrequited love, frustration, and the weight of Adonis's previous indifference) to a heavy physical weight she was already carrying.
"now press’d with bearing": Means "now further crushed" or "overwhelmed by enduring/carrying this new burden." "Bearing" here signifies both the act of carrying a heavy weight and the act of enduring suffering. Adonis's words have added to her emotional burden, causing her to feel completely overwhelmed.
Meaning: "I was already burdened with sorrow, and now I'm crushed under the weight of this new pain:"

Line 5: Melodious discord, heavenly tune, harsh-sounding,

"Melodious discord": An oxymoron. "Melodious" refers to the beautiful, musical quality of Adonis's voice, while "discord" refers to the jarring, unharmonious, and painful effect his words have on Venus. It perfectly encapsulates the contradictory nature of his impact.
"heavenly tune": Emphasizes the intrinsic beauty, perfection, and ethereal quality of Adonis's voice itself, apart from the content of his speech. It highlights its alluring nature.
"harsh-sounding": Directly contrasts with "heavenly tune" and "melodious," referring to the effect of his voice on Venus's sensibilities due to the painful truth conveyed. The beauty of the sound cannot mitigate the harshness of the message.
Meaning: "A beautiful sound that creates disharmony, a heavenly melody that sounds harsh,"

Line 6: Ear’s deep-sweet music, and heart’s deep-sore wounding.

"Ear’s deep-sweet music": This phrase reiterates and intensifies the description of Adonis's voice as profoundly pleasing to the sense of hearing. "Deep-sweet" emphasizes the intense, almost overwhelming, pleasure it provides to the ear.
"heart’s deep-sore wounding": The contrasting and parallel phrase, revealing the devastating emotional impact. While the ears find intense pleasure, the heart experiences a profound and agonizing injury. The mirroring of "deep-sweet" and "deep-sore" emphasizes the stark paradox.
Meaning: "Music that deeply delights the ear, but profoundly wounds the heart."

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Oxymoron	"Melodious discord" (Line 5)	Highlights the contradictory nature of Adonis's voice: it is intrinsically beautiful and pleasant to the ear, but the message it conveys (his rejection) creates emotional pain and disharmony for Venus.
Allusion	"Thy mermaid’s voice" (Line 3)	References sirens/mermaids from classical mythology, creatures whose beautiful songs lured sailors to their doom. It implies Adonis's voice is enchanting and irresistible but ultimately destructive or dangerous to Venus.
Paradox	"Ear’s deep-sweet music, and heart’s deep-sore wounding." (Line 6)	The central paradox of the stanza: something inherently beautiful (Adonis's voice) is the direct cause of profound emotional pain and suffering for Venus. It emphasizes the subjective experience of beauty.
Metaphor	"I had my load before, now press’d with bearing" (Line 4)	Compares Venus's emotional suffering and accumulated grief to a heavy physical burden or weight, emphasizing the oppressive and overwhelming nature of her pain.
Anaphora/Parallelism	"deep-sweet music, and heart’s deep-sore wounding." (Line 6)	The repetition of "deep-" and the parallel structure in describing sensory pleasure ("sweet music") and emotional pain ("sore wounding") intensify the contrast and the dual, profound effect of Adonis's voice.
Rhetorical Question	"hast thou a tongue?" (Line 1)	Expresses Venus's extreme surprise and disbelief at Adonis's speaking, underscoring the unexpected and powerful impact of his voice on her.
Hyperbole	"done me double wrong"; "I had my load before, now press’d with bearing" (Lines 3-4)	Venus exaggerates the extent of her suffering, emphasizing the overwhelming and compounded nature of her pain in response to Adonis's words.

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza marks a critical moment in Venus and Adonis as Adonis finally articulates himself beyond monosyllabic grunts or physical resistance. His voice, described in terms of alluring beauty ("mermaid's voice," "heavenly tune," "deep-sweet music"), paradoxically becomes the instrument of Venus's deepest anguish. The core meaning lies in the painful paradox where aesthetic beauty causes emotional suffering. Venus's ears are delighted, but her heart is profoundly wounded by the content of his speech (implied rejection or refusal), which compounds her already existing "load" of unrequited desire.

Significance in the Context of the Poem:

Shift in Adonis's Agency: For much of the poem, Adonis has been largely passive or physically resistant to Venus's advances. His speaking here (though his specific words aren't given in this stanza) gives him agency, but his voice is used to further reject Venus, intensifying her torment. This transition from physical struggle to verbal rejection marks a new phase in their interaction.
Escalation of Venus's Suffering: The stanza highlights the mounting despair and emotional burden Venus carries. Her pre-existing "load" of unrequited love is made "double" by Adonis's articulate refusal, emphasizing the destructive nature of her passion when met with indifference.
Theme of Unrequited Love and Obsession: It powerfully illustrates the agony of unrequited love, where even the beloved's most captivating qualities (his beautiful voice) become instruments of pain when they convey rejection. Venus's obsession prevents her from finding joy in his beauty; instead, it is twisted into a source of deeper sorrow.
Foreshadowing of Tragedy: The "mermaid's voice" allusion subtly foreshadows the tragic end. Just as the siren's song leads to destruction, Adonis's captivating qualities, and his inherent nature (his pursuit of wildness over love), will ultimately lead to his demise. His beauty itself becomes a source of pain for Venus, and ultimately, a cause of his own undoing.
Appearance vs. Reality: The stanza sharply contrasts the superficial, sensory pleasure of Adonis's voice with the harsh emotional reality of his words. This underscores a broader theme in the poem: that external beauty does not guarantee affection, compatibility, or happiness. Venus's own physical beauty also fails to win Adonis, illustrating that attraction is not a simple exchange of aesthetics.