Venus and Adonis

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Venus and Adonis

• Above Title-page of 1593 Quarto, printed by
  Richard Field.

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V and A text and context

• Narrative poem modeled on classical precedents.
• Source is Ovids Metamorphoses (Book 10) Arthur
  Goldings translation in 1564.
• Sixain stanzas in iambic pentameter quatrain
  of abab plus rhyming couplet.
• First Quarto appeared in 1593, to be followed by
  another imprint in 1594.
• Reading Ovid, writing Titus Andronicus during
  closure of the theatres between 1592 and 1594.
• Shakespeare a dramatist and actor but also a
  poet staking a claim for his creative authorship.
• Narrative poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and
  The Rape of Lucrece (1594) published for
  profit and patronage established Shakespeares
  reputation as a writer.

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• Dedication following the title-page of Q1594.

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Portrait of Henry Wriothesley, Earl of
Southampton, c. 1594.
The love I dedicate to your lordship is without
end What I have done is yours what I have to do
is yours being part in all I have, devoted
yours. Were my worth greater, my duty would show
greater meantime, as it is, it is bound to your
lordship, to whom I wish long life still
lengthened with all happiness (From the
dedication to The Rape of Lucrece).
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Titian, Venus and Adonis (c. 1555)
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Poussin, Venus and Adonis, (c. 1626)
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Rubens, Venus and Adonis, c. 1630s
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Venus and Adonis Francois Lemoyne (1729)
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The narrative

• Story occurs over 24 hour period.
• First morning Venus and Adonis in a copse she
  lectures on beauty, his responsibility to beget
  children exemplum on her pursuit by Mars.
• At noon, breeding jennet episode.
• Afternoon to nightfall Venus pleads for a kiss,
  gets one leads to sermon by Adonis about lust.
• Second morning Venuss long apostrophe to Death,
  her discovery of Adoniss body, and her final
  lament.

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Repetition of pursuit motif

• Opening sequence from lines 1-362 where Venus
  plucks him from his horse
• the breeding jennet sequence from 369-434
• when Venus renews her chase from 435 to Adonis
  departure at 818, though there are several
  shorter repetitions of this pattern within the
  sequence
• and the final sequence from 819 to the end.

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Botticelli, Venus and Mars (c. 1483)