Shakespeare Portal

Venus and Adonis

Genre
Poem
Written
1592–1593
Setting
The English-Ovidian countryside, across a single day
Difficulty
3 / 5

Synopsis

Shakespeare's first published work (1593), dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, was an instant bestseller. This 1194-line erotic-mythological poem, drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses, reverses the usual roles: the goddess Venus is the aggressive wooer and the beautiful young hunter Adonis the reluctant object of her desire. Across a single day she pleads, argues, overpowers, and despairs; he insists he is too young for love and longs only to hunt. He breaks away to chase a wild boar, which gores him to death; Venus, finding his body, turns his blood into a purple flower and decrees that love will ever after be mixed with sorrow. The poem is by turns comic, sensuous, and elegiac — a witty debate about desire that darkens into grief. It is written in six-line stanzas rhyming ababcc.

Read

  1. Venus and Adonis

    Venus woos the reluctant Adonis through a long summer's day; he escapes to hunt the boar that kills him, and the grieving goddess transforms his blood into a flower.

    1. Part 1 — Lines 1–168
    2. Part 2 — Lines 169–336
    3. Part 3 — Lines 337–504
    4. Part 4 — Lines 505–672
    5. Part 5 — Lines 673–840
    6. Part 6 — Lines 841–1008
    7. Part 7 — Lines 1009–1176
    8. Part 8 — Lines 1177–1194

Characters

  • Venus protagonist

    The goddess of love (also called Cytherea), here the ardent, overpowering wooer of Adonis. Eloquent, sensuous, and finally grief-stricken. A narrated figure, not a stage speaker.

  • Adonis major

    A beautiful young hunter who scorns love and longs only for the chase. He resists Venus, hunts the boar, and is gored to death; his blood becomes a flower.

Cross-references