Bell Shakespeare Present VENUS & ADONIS by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE a Bell Shakespeare and Malthouse Melbourne Co-Production Developed Through Mind’S Eye TEACHERS’ KIT

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Sydney Theatre Company and Bell Shakespeare present VENUS & ADONIS BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE A Bell Shakespeare and Malthouse Melbourne co-production developed through Mind’s Eye TEACHERS’ KIT

TEACHERS’ KIT: VENUS AND ADONIS

CONTENTS 1

BELL SHAKESPEARE 2 ABOUT THIS KIT

SYNOPSIS: VENUS AND ADONIS 3

BACKGROUND: VENUS AND ADONIS 4

THE CONTEMPORARY VISION: VENUS AND ADONIS 5

CHARACTERS: VENUS AND ADONIS 6

THEMATIC CONCERNS OF THE PRODUCTION 7

EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS - VENUS AND ADONIS 8

PRE-PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES 11 ENGLISH DRAMA MUSIC

POST-PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES 15 ENGLISH DRAMA MUSIC

THE POEM: VENUS AND ADONIS 17

REFERENCES 27

BELL SHAKESPEARE

Launched in 1990, Bell Shakespeare is a dynamic, Australian theatre company with a broad mandate to educate and entertain the public. The Company strives to present – at the highest possible standard – the works of William Shakespeare, and, from time to time, other classics.

Bell Shakespeare is Australia’s only national touring Shakespeare theatre company. We are committed to taking our productions and education programmes to audiences in capital cities, regional and rural centres across Australia. We are also committed to the development and training of actors and an ongoing examination of the role of theatre in the life of the community. We believe that great theatre is a source of spiritual enrichment, wisdom and pleasure.

BELL SHAKESPEARE EDUCATION ONLINE

Bell Shakespeare’s education website is useful, relevant and entertaining. www.bellshakespeare.com.au/education is the key to all your Shakespearean information needs.

About This Kit

This kit has been devised for use in Senior English, Drama and Music with preparatory and follow- up exercises for students. Exercises may be copied to distribute to students and are denoted as

ENGLISH Written activities

DRAMA Physical activities

MUSIC Music activities

It is recommended that teachers take students through the content of this Teachers’ Kit and read the poem of VENUS AND ADONIS prior to attending the performance.

This Teachers’ Kit has been devised by Linda Lorenza BA Grad Dip Ed COGE MA, Head of Education at Bell Shakespeare.

SYNOPSIS: VENUS AND ADONIS

A summary of the poem from Dunton-Downer, L & Riding, A., Essential Shakespeare Handbook, Doorling Kindersley Limited, UK 2004.

Adonis sets out to hunt one afternoon. Venus sees him and her passion is ignited by his beauty. She plucks him from his horse and pushes him to the ground, offering to release him only in exchange for ‘one sweet kiss’. Adonis agrees but then refuses to kiss her. Venus attempts to seduce him with flattery, then criticism, finally advocating ‘the law of nature’ as she lies beside the beautiful youth on the grass in the afternoon sun. Adonis, fearing sunburn, wants to leave. When Venus is reduced to tears, Adonis’s irresistible cheek dimples only torment her further.

Still intent on hunting, Adonis leaps up, but his stallion, sexually excited by the sight of a mare, flees into a wood. Adonis sulks while Venus recommends the example set by his horse and he should seize the opportunity for love. Adonis says he only likes boar-hunting and is too young for love.

Venus faints. Thinking her dead, Adonis attempts to revive her with a kiss. Venus is delighted. As night begins to fall Adonis consents to only one more kiss before departing. As they kiss the couple fall to the ground. Venus is even more impassioned. She wants to meet again tomorrow but Adonis says that he is going boar hunting. Venus prophesies that unless he hunts a less vicious beast he will die. Adonis says he is going to meet his friends. Venus argues that the moonlight invites him to remain and love her, but he says that what she calls Love is in fact Lust. He runs off leaving Venus alone and upset.

Wandering in the wilderness, Venus hears and then sings with the echoes of her lamenting voice. The lark sings as day breaks releasing Venus from her night’s anguish. She hears the barks of dogs on a hunt and sees a boar with blood dripping from its mouth. She rails against Death until the distant voice of the hunter persuades her that Adonis is alive. Rushing to greet him she is devastated to arrive upon his bloodied corpse. She sees his groin was pierced by the boar and thinks that even the boar must have been in love with Adonis. She reasons that she would have killed him first had she had tusks, so passionately did she desire to kiss him. Staining her face with blood she prophesies that sorrows will forever accompany love. Adonis’s body melts ‘like vapour from her sight’ and from his blood on the ground a purple flower appears. Venus pluck the flower vowing to kiss the flower forever. She mounts her chariot to return home and mourn.

BACKGROUND: VENUS AND ADONIS

Venus and Adonis was Shakespeare’s most popular poem during his lifetime. It was written during 1592-3 and first published in 1593. As with all his poems Shakespeare draws from the works of Ovid. In this case from, Metamorphoses. Ovid’s take of Venus and Adonis sees Venus’ love returned by Adonis whereas Shakespeare took a tangent from the source material giving Venus a more human quality and her seductive manoeuvres are constantly rejected. In his day Shakespeare would recognise his poems over his plays, as they were perhaps considered low- brow by contrast. In the dedication Shakespeare called this poem the ‘first heir of my invention’.

The poem is composed in 6-line stanzas in rhyming ababcc for the total 1194 lines. The poem was hugely popular in Shakespeare’s day being published and reprinted in quarto editions until 1675. Late in the 17th century the poem lost favour with the rhyming stanzas perceived as laboured and the tonal shifts confusing. Romantic era poets such as Colleridge and Keats used the poem for inspiration and in the 20th century the poem acquired renewed interest.

Venus and Adonis and Shakespeare’s other great poem The Rape Of Lucrece were perhaps his greatest literary successes in his day and were both dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton.

Both these long poems examine desire but they vary in theme, form and tone.

Venus and Adonis presents Venus alternatively as sensual love goddess and sex-crazed buffoon. Concluding with the death of Adonis and Venus’ mournful elegy. The lovers somehow removed from yet representative of the tragic human experience.

The Rape Of Lucrece drawn from Ovid’s Fasti or “Chronicles” was first published in 1594. This poem graphically recounts the story of a woman raped by her husband’s friend. The disturbing detail provides an examination of the dark unsettling corners of human conscience. This poem is composed in ‘rhyme royal’ a demanding stanza form used by Chaucer. Each stanza contains seven lines of iambic pentameter rhyming ababbcc.

THE CONTEMPORARY VISION: VENUS AND ADONIS

The following article discusses the contemporary vision in this production of Venus And Adonis.

Venus And Adonis Elissa Blake, Metro, Sydney Morning Herald February 6, 2009

TWO seductive singing voices. Two inventive minds. Four heaving breasts. These are the tools Venus, the great goddess of love, has to woo the young, handsome Adonis in a new stage adaptation of William Shakespeare's enduring poem Venus And Adonis.

Directed by Marion Potts for the Bell Shakespeare Company, Venus is played by two actors, Melissa Madden Gray and Susan Prior, who use every trick in the book to entice the drop-dead gorgeous Adonis, who is played by the audience.

Set in a luxury hotel room, the two women primp and preen and morph into different characters to try to snare the object of their affection. They play the virgin, dominatrix, sexy librarian, mad woman, rapist, animal and vampire. All this dressed in big heels, luxuriant wigs, corsets, stockings and accompanied by winking, lip-licking, come-hither looks, back arching and simulations of rutting.

"We thought we'd give Venus double the ammunition by casting two actors in the role," Potts says. "The female voice in the poem was so strong that we decided to strengthen it by giving her two voices to sing with, four breasts instead of two and two brains to negotiate the difficult terrain this seduction ends up in. It alludes to her powers of a goddess more than channeling through just one performer."

The story is simple. The immortal Venus has fallen in love with Adonis, a young human boy. She offers herself to him. But he simply doesn't fancy her. He'd rather go hunting with his mates. She won't give up and relentlessly pursues him. Her lust is overwhelming. In the end, Adonis dies. Was it the wild boar that killed him in the hunt? Or was it Venus's suffocating love that snuffed out his light?

"The play is full of ambiguities," Gray says. "We don't know if the two women really are a goddess or if they are two strange sisters or lovers in a modern hotel room. It's not clear whether we've murdered somebody already and we're going back through it in our minds or if we are imagining the whole thing. It could be a game that we play every day, compelled to play out this tragic story." Gray says it's a difficult role to play because Adonis is "so frightfully young" and Venus, who could be any age, is sexually mature and, well, voracious.

"Some interpretations say he might be gay and Venus is forcing herself on him, raping him. It's really challenging to play that ethically. But I reconcile it by saying she's a deity and she's never had to learn about morals or ethics before now. Through loss she gains ethics. It's an incredibly moving piece for everybody - anybody who has ever been in love and had their heart broken or experienced loss."

Gray and Prior have never worked together before and had to become very close very quickly in rehearsals. "It's like an ensemble piece for two people," Prior says. "We had to connect very fast. But it was easy because we really liked each other and now we look after each other on stage. "It's a lot of fun seducing the audience. We look directly into people's eyes and wink at them. We tease the audience. I can see people nudging each other in the ribs and saying 'oooh-err'. It's all very tongue-in- cheek."

But by the end of the 70-minute show, Venus learns that true love can be painful in all its beauty. Potts says the prophecy made by the grief-stricken Venus at the end of the poem is one of the reasons she wanted to bring it to life on stage. "It's so moving," Potts says. "It's part-curse and part-celebration but it so truthfully defines love as we know it, even today."

The immortal Venus says: Here I prophesy. Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend … [Love shall] Pluck down the rich, enrich the poor with treasures; It shall be raging-mad and silly-mild, Make the young old, the old become a child.

The great goddess of love proves she is still revealing for a modern audience.

CHARACTERS: VENUS AND ADONIS

VENUS From: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/venus.html

Venus was originally a vegetation goddess and patroness of gardens and vineyards. She became the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Through Greek influence, she was equated with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture.

The cult of Venus originated from Ardea and Lavinium in Latium. Venus is the daughter of Jupiter. Her lovers include Mars and Vulcan and are modeled on the affairs of Aphrodite. The importance of Venus increased through the influence of several Roman political leaders. The dictator Sulla made her his patroness. Julius Caesar and the emperor Augustus named her the ancestor of their family. Ceasar introduced the cult of Venus Genetrix, the goddess of motherhood and marriage. He built a temple for her in 46 BCE. She was also honored in the temple of Mars Ultor. The last great temple of Venus was built by the emperor Hadrianus near the Colusseum in 135 CE. Roman statues and portraits of Venus are usually identical to the Greek representations of Aphrodite.

ADONIS From: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/adonis.html

Adonis features in Greek and Roman mythology and also has Semitic origins. The name "Adonis" is a variation of the Semitic word Adona meaning "lord", and is also a name referred to in the Old Testament.

In Greek mythology there is confusion as to Adonis’ origin. Hesiod considers this Greek hero to be the son of Phoenix and Aephesiboea. Yet Apollodorus calls him the son of Cinyras and Metharme. It is more widely accepted that Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexual love, compelled Myrrha (or Smyrna) to commit incest with Theias, her father, the king of Assyria. Myrrha’s nurse helped her with this trickery to become pregnant, and when Theias discovered this he chased her with a knife. To avoid his wrath the gods turned her into a myrrh tree. The tree later burst open, allowing Adonis to emerge. An alternative explanation says that after Myrrha slept with her father she hid in a forest where Aphrodite changed her into a tree. Theias struck the tree with an arrow, causing the tree to open and Adonis to be born. A further version says a wild boar open the tree with its tusks and freed the child; this is considered to be a foreshadowing of his death.

Once the child was born Aphrodite was so moved by his beauty that she sheltered him and entrusted him to Persephone, who was also taken by his beauty and refused to give him back. The dispute between these two goddesses was settled by Zeus. In some versions it was settled by Calliope for Zeus. The resulting agreement was that Adonis would spend one-third of every year with each goddess and the last third of the year wherever he chose. He always chose to spend two-thirds of the year with Aphrodite. This went on till his death, where he was fatally wounded by a wild boar. An incident said to be caused by Artemis or by Aphrodite's lover, Ares, who was jealous of Adonis. Apollo is also said to be responsible because his son, Erymanthus, had seen Aphrodite naked and she blinded him for it. The story of Adonis provides a basis for the origin of myrrh and the origin of the rose, which grew from each drop of blood that fell.

The story of Adonis, despite its variants, is certainly another example of the dying vegetation god and the close association with Aphrodite or Persephone also brings the myth of Adonis into line with the many other mated couples, where the male partner dies and is reborn, that is spread across North Africa and the Near East.

In Roman mythology he was loved by Venus, the goddess of sexual love.

THEMATIC CONCERNS OF THE PRODUCTION Motifs* and Imagery *Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

EROTIC DESIRE

Erotic desire is the key them in the poem. Many of the metaphors for sexual desire or pleasure are conventional and sensuous such as burning, steaming, hunting, hungering, thirsting and dying.

Now quick desire hath caught the yielding prey, And glutton-like she feeds, yet never filleth, Her lips are conquerors, his lips obey, Paying what ransom the insulter willeth; Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so high That she will draw his lips’ rich treasure dry. [547-552]

Shakespeare is innovative in using the imagery of animals and landscapes in a sexual connotation:

I’ll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer; Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale; Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry, Stray, lower, where the pleasure fountains lie. [231-34]

This production draws on the personas of Venus in her seduction of Adonis, highlighting the different personas a woman may evoke in her efforts to seduce a man.

Marion Potts discusses these in the podcast. www.bellshakespeare.com.au/education click on the podcast icon.

EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS - VENUS AND ADONIS

This production is suitable only for Year 12 students. It is recommended that teachers inform their students that some of the performance contains material of sexual nature without nudity. The cabaret-esque performance style includes direct address, spoken word, song and mime. Some innuendo in the performance may be considered inappropriate for students below Year 12.

TEACHING AND LEARNING PERSPECTIVES FOR NSW STUDENTS

HSC ENGLISH EXTENSION 1. This could be used as an additional text for:

MODULE B: Texts and Ways of Thinking Elective 2: Postmodernism This piece may help students in contemplating the play DEAD WHITE MALES which itself comments on Shakespeare. The contemporary interpretation of the Shakespearean poem and the design of the production may stimulate students’ thoughts on texts and how we think about them.

MODULE C: Language and Values Elective 3: Gendered Language This production may be useful to students studying Twelfth Night in this module. The original poem contains a diverse array of language in classic Shakespearean prose which is presented in a contemporary context in the performance. The production uses two female actors presenting the various personas of the seductress and in itself reflects gendered use of language in contemporary context. The absence of the male – Adonis – highlights the language in performance.

HSC ENGLISH EXTENSION 2 This task requires student to work independently to plan and complete a Major Work in the form of an extended composition including documentation and reflection on the process. This production may assist students to • Develop insights and formulate and communicate complex concepts; • Compose a substantial and sustained original major work that effectively engages audience and is appropriate to purpose, concept and medium; • Exhibit sophisticated and highly developed ability to articulate, monitor and reflect on processes of investigation, interpretation, analysis and composition.

HSC DRAMA This work may stimulate students’ ideas for Individual Projects.

Individual Project: Scriptwriting The production may assist students in: Concept • Creating a script for a complete play or live performance; • Developing a concept that is original and has clarity and integrity. Realisation • Developing dramatic images, dramatic focus and dramatic tension.

Conventions and Practicalities • Script writing conventions such as layout, character list, dialogue formatting, stage setting, directions and effects; • Practicality for Production such as scene and costume changes, venue style, size of production, cast size, scenic and technical effect.

Critical Analysis: Directors’ Folio This production may assist students in analysing and developing • Originality, practicality and clarity in a director’s concept/vision; • Effective communication of the director’s concept/vision; • Effective use of key theatrical elements, features, effects or images which contribute to dramatic meaning; • Integration and unity of dramatic and theatrical elements.

Critical Analysis: Portfolio of Theatre Criticism This production will provide students with an usual and challenging work to consider for • Identifying the style, design and ideas in the production; • Evaluating significant aspects of the production; • Distinguishing and commenting on the different ways the script, the director, the designers and performers contribute to the production.

Individual Project: Design (Costume, Lighting, Set) This production will provide students with an unsual and challenging work to consider for • Effective interpretation of the play realised in a directorial concept/vision; • Understanding of the characters/roles — social standing, period, place; • Suitability to the dramatic and technical needs of the characters/roles. This production may stimulate the student’s thoughts about • Design/Concept, • Appropriateness, and • Execution.

HSC MUSIC 2 AND EXTENSION Music provides a powerful medium for the development of general competencies considered effective for the acquisition of effective, higher-order thinking skills. These skills are necessary for further education, work and everyday life.

This production may provide student with an unusual and challenging work to consider for syllabus requirements in Music.

Performance outcomes: • Evaluation and discussion sessions on all aspects of the performances of others; • Articulates sophisticated arguments supported by musical evidence and demonstrates independence of thought with regard to the interpretation of music performed; • Sophisticated understanding of the concepts of music and their relationship to each other with reference to works performed; • Critically analyses the use of musical concepts to present a stylistic interpretation of music performed.

Composition outcomes: • Critical evaluation and discussion sessions on all aspects of the compositions of others; • Articulates sophisticated arguments supported by musical evidence and demonstrates independence of thought with regard to compositional processes, techniques and devices used, showing the emergence of a personal style; • Demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the concepts of music and their relationship to each other with reference to works composed; • Presents, discusses and evaluates the problem-solving process with regard to composition and the realisation of the composition; • Critically analyses the use of musical concepts to present a personal compositional style.

Musicology outcomes: • Critical evaluation and discussion sessions on all aspects of his/her own research and essay work and on the research and essays of others; • Articulates sophisticated arguments supported by musical evidence and demonstrates independence of thought in the development of a hypothesis and argument in the chosen area of research; • Demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the concepts of music and their relationship to each other with reference to research undertaken and essay writing ; • Presents, discusses and evaluates the problem-solving process and the development and realisation of a research project; • Critically analyses the use of the musical concepts to articulate their relationship to the style analysed.

PRE-PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES

ENGLISH ACTIVITY ONE

THE POEM AND ITS STRUCTURE. The poem is composed in 6-line stanzas in rhyming ababcc for the total 1194 lines. The poem was hugely popular in Shakespeare’s day. Late in the 17th century the poem lost favour with the rhyming stanzas perceived as laboured and the tonal shifts confusing. Romantic era poets such as Colleridge and Keats used the poem for inspiration and in the 20th century the poem acquired renewed interest.

ACTIVITY ONE 1. Select a stanza from Venus And Adonis 1) identify the form ababcc structure 2) identify the imagery in the stanza 3) what is the mood or emotion portrayed in this stanza

2. Compare with the Keats’ excerpt below with a stanza from Venus And Adonis. Comment on: 1) structure, 2) language.

3. Keats’ Ode on Melancholy was written in 1819 and first published a year later. This is one of the least-discussed of the odes. It is lyrical and affecting; the imagery is startling and vivid. It is also psychologically interesting for it clearly shows how Keats's equated pain with pleasure (alternatively, sorrow with happiness or desire with fear.) One cannot exist without the other. Antithesis was often used by Shakespeare. Keats writes: 'Ay, in the very temple of Delight, / Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine'. In this ode, beauty must die; joy bids adieu; pleasure turns to poison. Keats connects each positive feeling with its melancholy end. (from http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/odeonmelancholy.html) a) Identify the form in the stanzas below b) Highlight or circle the positive and negative images and ideas in the stanzas.

No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine; Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine; Make not your rosary of yew-berries, Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl A partner in your sorrow's mysteries; For shade to shade will come too drowsily, And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.

But when the melancholy fit shall fall Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud, That fosters the droop-headed flowers all, And hides the green hill in an April shroud; Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose, Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave, Or on the wealth of globed peonies; Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows, Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave, And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

ENGLISH ACTIVITY TWO

CREATING IMAGERY

Shakespeare’s imagery is vivid in creating the essence of lust, and erotic desire. In today’s society what language might be relevant in a poem about desire and seduction?

ACTIVITY TWO

Consider the imagery and mood contained in the following stanzas from Venus And Adonis :

Within this limit is relief enough, Sweet bottom-grass and high delightful plain, Round rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, To shelter thee from tempest and from rain Then be my deer, since I am such a park; No dog shall rouse thee, though a thousand bark.'240

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 lived and there he could not die

These lovely caves, these round enchanting pits, Open'd their mouths to swallow Venus' liking. Being mad before, how doth she now for wits? Struck dead at first, what needs a second striking? 250 Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn, To love a cheek that smiles at thee in scorn!

Rewrite one or all of these stanzas using imagery, vocabulary and terminology that you think represents of one of the options listed below.

1. Technology 2. Television 3. Media - newspaper, radio 4. Advertising 5. Religion 6. Politics 7. A specific Cultural group 8. Select your own option. EXTENSION: Explore the structure and language in other works by Keats and Colleridge to find any link to that in Venus And Adonis.

PRE-PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES

DRAMA ACTIVITY ONE

To create this dramatic performance of the poem the language, the connotations and sounds of the vocabulary were explored.

ACTIVITY ONE Voice activity on the language in a stanza. Try speaking the following stanza in the following ways:

1. Everyday speaking 2. Stress or over-enunciate the consonants 3. Extend and wallow in the vowels 4. Speak to create the sense of the horse being described 5. Speak as if to seduce

Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, Broad breast, full eye, small head and nostril wide, High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong, Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide: Look, what a horse should have he did not lack, Save a proud rider on so proud a back.

List the following for each way of speaking the stanza:

1. What were the strongest sounds or words? 2. Did speaking like this make you speak faster or more slowly? 3. What was the feeling or emotion that you felt when speaking this way? 4. Which way do you think was most dramatically effective for this stanza?

EXTENSION Choose another stanza and experiment with different ways of speaking it.

ACTIVITY TWO The performance focuses on the various emotional state or personas of Venus. In a small group using the Synopsis (p5): one student reads the synopsis and one student mimes Venus. The other students observe, noting the states of Venus. Consider the behavioural stereotypes that might appear e.g. baby-doll, seductress, dominatrix.

PRE-PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES

MUSIC ACTIVITY ONE

SETTING VERSE TO MUSIC In this production excerpts of the poem have been set to music and the songs take the audience into the mood of Venus in different guises of seduction. The first song is suggestive of ‘Mrs Robinson’, as in the The Graduate, where an older woman seduces a much younger man.

ACTIVITY ONE Imagine you are the composer. Your brief is to create a song that reflects the mood as described above. Create your own melody for a song using some or all of the stanzas below. Use these elements in your composition 1. The Rhythm of the language in the stanzas 2. Tone and melody to reflect the seduction and intention of the characters 3. Instrumentation.

'Thou canst not see one wrinkle in my brow; Mine eyes are gray and bright and quick in turning: 140 My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow, My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning; My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt, Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt.

'Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear, Or, like a fairy, trip upon the green, Or, like a nymph, with long dishevell'd hair, Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen: Love is a spirit all compact of fire, Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire. 150

'Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie; These forceless flowers like sturdy trees support me; Two strengthless doves will draw me through the sky, From morn till night, even where I list to sport me: Is love so light, sweet boy, and may it be That thou shouldst think it heavy unto thee?

'Is thine own heart to thine own face affected? Can thy right hand seize love upon thy left? Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected, Steal thine own freedom and complain on theft. Narcissus so himself himself forsook, And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.

'Torches are made to light, jewels to wear, Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use, Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear: Things growing to themselves are growth's abuse: Seeds spring from seeds and beauty breedeth beauty; Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.

POST PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES

ENGLISH

REVIEWING THE PERFORMANCE

ACTIVITY ONE

After seeing the performance, compose your own theatre review. Consider the following:

1. Who is going to read your review? Select a particular audience (e.g. newspaper, internet blog, academic journal). 2. What aspects of the poem were presented in the performance and how were they presented? 3. What theatrical devices and techniques were used? What effect did they have? 4. Your own response to the structure of the poem as a contemporary cabaret-style musical.

DRAMA

RECREATING THE PERFORMANCE What grabbed your attention and why?

ACTIVITY ONE

In a small group discuss the performance and identify three strong visual moments from the performance. In your group create a still moment (i.e. a tableau or a photograph) of each of those moments. Show these to the rest of the class and as a class discuss the similarities and differences in what each group presented.

ACTIVITY TWO Reflecting upon the performance

The characters of Venus Try to list or describe the personas or characters of Venus included in the performance. Consider 1. the way lines were delivered by the actors, 2. the physical movements and gestures, 3. the direction of gaze, and 4. the tonality of the music.

ACTIVITY THREE Reflecting upon the performance

1. How was the following stanza presented in the production?

2. What was the effect of the • vocal delivery? • visual directorial choices – blocking, lighting, props?

MUSIC

ACTIVITY

Think back over the performance and answer the following:

1) What was the instrumentation? 2) Describe the vocal harmony used and link to the relevant stanzas of the poem 3) What time signatures were used, link to the relevant stanzas 4) In your opinion what was the most memorable musical moment and why?

VENUS AND ADONIS (Published in 1593) 'Vilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus Apollo Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua.

' TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE HENRY WRIOTHESLY,EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, AND BARON OF TICHFIELD.

RIGHT HONORABLE, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden: only, if your honour seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours, till I have honoured you with some graver labour. But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a god- father, and never after ear so barren a land, for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest. I leave it to your honourable survey, and your honour to your heart's content; which I wish may always answer your own wish and the world's hopeful expectatioYour honour's in all duty, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

EVEN as the sun with purple-colour'd face With this she seizeth on his sweating palm, He burns with bashful shame: she with her tears Had ta'en his last leave of the weeping morn, The precedent of pith and livelihood, Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks; Rose-cheek'd Adonis hied him to the chase; And trembling in her passion, calls it balm, Then with her windy sighs and golden hairs Hunting he loved, but love he laugh'd to scorn; Earth's sovereign salve to do a goddess good: To fan and blow them dry again she seeks: Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him, Being so enraged, desire doth lend her force He saith she is immodest, blames her 'miss; And like a bold-faced suitor 'gins to woo him. Courageously to pluck him from his horse. 30 What follows more she murders with a kiss.

'Thrice-fairer than myself,' thus she began, Over one arm the lusty courser's rein, Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, 'The field's chief flower, sweet above compare, Under her other was the tender boy, Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh and bone, Stain to all nymphs, more lovely than a man, 10 Who blush'd and pouted in a dull disdain, Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste, More white and red than doves or roses are; With leaden appetite, unapt to toy; Till either gorge be stuff'd or prey be gone; Nature that made thee, with herself at strife, She red and hot as coals of glowing fire, Even so she kissed his brow, his cheek, his chin, Saith that the world hath ending with thy life. He red for shame, but frosty in desire. And where she ends she doth anew begin. 60

'Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed, The studded bridle on a ragged bough Forced to content, but never to obey, And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow; Nimbly she fastens:--O, how quick is love!-- Panting he lies and breatheth in her face; If thou wilt deign this favour, for thy meed The steed is stalled up, and even now She feedeth on the steam as on a prey, A thousand honey secrets shalt thou know: To tie the rider she begins to prove: 40 And calls it heavenly moisture, air of grace; Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses, Backward she push'd him, as she would be thrust, Wishing her cheeks were gardens full of flowers, And being set, I'll smother thee with kisses; And govern'd him in strength, though not in lust. So they were dew'd with such distilling showers.

'And yet not cloy thy lips with loathed satiety, So soon was she along as he was down, Look, how a bird lies tangled in a net, But rather famish them amid their plenty,20 Each leaning on their elbows and their hips: So fasten'd in her arms Adonis lies; Making them red and pale with fresh variety, Now doth she stroke his cheek, now doth he frown, Pure shame and awed resistance made him fret, Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty: And 'gins to chide, but soon she stops his lips; Which bred more beauty in his angry eyes:70 A summer's day will seem an hour but short, And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken, Rain added to a river that is rank Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport.' 'If thou wilt chide, thy lips shall never open.' Perforce will force it overflow the bank.

Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, 'Touch but my lips with those fair lips of thine,-- 'Is thine own heart to thine own face affected? For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale; Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red-- Can thy right hand seize love upon thy left? Still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, The kiss shall be thine own as well as mine. Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected, 'Twixt crimson shame and anger ashy-pale: What seest thou in the ground? hold up thy head: Steal thine own freedom and complain on theft. Being red, she loves him best; and being white, Look in mine eye-balls, there thy beauty lies; Narcissus so himself himself forsook, Her best is better'd with a more delight. Then why not lips on lips, since eyes in eyes? And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.

Look how he can, she cannot choose but love; 'Art thou ashamed to kiss? then wink again, 'Torches are made to light, jewels to wear, And by her fair immortal hand she swears,80 And I will wink; so shall the day seem night; Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use, From his soft bosom never to remove, Love keeps his revels where they are but twain; Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear: Till he take truce with her contending tears, Be bold to play, our sport is not in sight: Things growing to themselves are growth's abuse: Which long have rain'd, making her cheeks all wet; These blue-vein'd violets whereon we lean Seeds spring from seeds and beauty breedeth beauty; And one sweet kiss shall pay this countless debt. Never can blab, nor know not what we mean. Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.

Upon this promise did he raise his chin, 'The tender spring upon thy tempting lip 'Upon the earth's increase why shouldst thou feed, Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave, Shows thee unripe; yet mayst thou well be tasted: Unless the earth with thy increase be fed? 170 Who, being look'd on, ducks as quickly in; Make use of time, let not advantage slip; By law of nature thou art bound to breed, So offers he to give what she did crave; Beauty within itself should not be wasted: 130 That thine may live when thou thyself art dead; But when her lips were ready for his pay, Fair flowers that are not gather'd in their prime And so, in spite of death, thou dost survive, He winks, and turns his lips another way. 90 Rot and consume themselves in little time. In that thy likeness still is left alive.'

Never did passenger in summer's heat 'Were I hard-favour'd, foul, or wrinkled-old, By this the love-sick queen began to sweat, More thirst for drink than she for this good turn. Ill-nurtured, crooked, churlish, harsh in voice, For where they lay the shadow had forsook them, Her help she sees, but help she cannot get; O'erworn, despised, rheumatic and cold, And Titan, tired in the mid-day heat, She bathes in water, yet her fire must burn: Thick-sighted, barren, lean and lacking juice, With burning eye did hotly overlook them; 'O, pity,' 'gan she cry, 'flint-hearted boy! Then mightst thou pause, for then I were not for thee Wishing Adonis had his team to guide, 'Tis but a kiss I beg; why art thou coy? But having no defects, why dost abhor me? So he were like him and by Venus' side. 180

'I have been woo'd, as I entreat thee now, 'Thou canst not see one wrinkle in my brow; And now Adonis, with a lazy spright, Even by the stern and direful god of war, Mine eyes are gray and bright and quick in turning: 140 And with a heavy, dark, disliking eye, Whose sinewy neck in battle ne'er did bow, My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow, His louring brows o'erwhelming his fair sight, Who conquers where he comes in every jar; 100 My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning; Like misty vapours when they blot the sky, Yet hath he been my captive and my slave, My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt, Souring his cheeks cries 'Fie, no more of love! And begg'd for that which thou unask'd shalt have. Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt. The sun doth burn my face: I must remove.'

'Over my altars hath he hung his lance, 'Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear, 'Ay me,' quoth Venus, 'young, and so unkind? His batter'd shield, his uncontrolled crest, Or, like a fairy, trip upon the green, What bare excuses makest thou to be gone! And for my sake hath learn'd to sport and dance, Or, like a nymph, with long dishevell'd hair, I'll sigh celestial breath, whose gentle wind To toy, to wanton, dally, smile and jest, Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen: Shall cool the heat of this descending sun: 190 Scorning his churlish drum and ensign red, Love is a spirit all compact of fire, I'll make a shadow for thee of my hairs; Making my arms his field, his tent my bed. Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire. 150 If they burn too, I'll quench them with my tears.

'Thus he that overruled I oversway'd, 'Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie; 'The sun that shines from heaven shines but warm, Leading him prisoner in a red-rose chain: These forceless flowers like sturdy trees support me; And, lo, I lie between that sun and thee: Strong-tempered steel his stronger strength obey'd, Two strengthless doves will draw me through the sky, The heat I have from thence doth little harm, Yet was he servile to my coy disdain. From morn till night, even where I list to sport me: Thine eye darts forth the fire that burneth me; O, be not proud, nor brag not of thy might, Is love so light, sweet boy, and may it be And were I not immortal, life were done For mastering her that foiled the god of fight! That thou shouldst think it heavy unto thee? Between this heavenly and earthly sun.

'Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel, At this Adonis smiles as in disdain, What recketh he his rider's angry stir, Nay, more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth? That in each cheek appears a pretty dimple: His flattering 'Holla,' or his 'Stand, I say'? Art thou a woman's son, and canst not feel Love made those hollows, if himself were slain, What cares he now for curb or pricking spur? What 'tis to love? how want of love tormenteth? He might be buried in a tomb so simple; For rich caparisons or trapping gay? O, had thy mother borne so hard a mind, Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie, He sees his love, and nothing else he sees, She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind. Why, there Love lived and there he could not die For nothing else with his proud sight agrees.

'What am I, that thou shouldst contemn me this? These lovely caves, these round enchanting pits, Look, when a painter would surpass the life, Or what great danger dwells upon my suit? Open'd their mouths to swallow Venus' liking. In limning out a well-proportion'd steed, 290 What were thy lips the worse for one poor kiss? Being mad before, how doth she now for wits? His art with nature's workmanship at strife, Speak, fair; but speak fair words, or else be mute: Struck dead at first, what needs a second striking? 250 As if the dead the living should exceed; Give me one kiss, I'll give it thee again, Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn, So did this horse excel a common one And one for interest, if thou wilt have twain. 210 To love a cheek that smiles at thee in scorn! In shape, in courage, colour, pace and bone.

'Fie, lifeless picture, cold and senseless stone, Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say? Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, Well-painted idol, image dun and dead, Her words are done, her woes are more increasing; Broad breast, full eye, small head and nostril wide, Statue contenting but the eye alone, The time is spent, her object will away, High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing Thing like a man, but of no woman bred! And from her twining arms doth urge releasing. strong, Thou art no man, though of a man's complexion, 'Pity,' she cries, 'some favour, some remorse!' Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide: For men will kiss even by their own direction.' Away he springs and hasteth to his horse. Look, what a horse should have he did not lack, Save a proud rider on so proud a back. 300 This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue, But, lo, from forth a copse that neighbors by, And swelling passion doth provoke a pause; A breeding jennet, lusty, young and proud, 260 Sometime he scuds far off and there he stares; Red cheeks and fiery eyes blaze forth he wrong; Adonis' trampling courser doth espy, Anon he starts at stirring of a feather; Being judge in love, she cannot right her cause: 220 And forth she rushes, snorts and neighs aloud: To bid the wind a base he now prepares, And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak, The strong-neck'd steed, being tied unto a tree, And whether he run or fly they know not whether; And now her sobs do her intendments break. Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he. For through his mane and tail the high wind sings, Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wings. Sometimes she shakes her head and then his hand, Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, Now gazeth she on him, now on the ground; And now his woven girths he breaks asunder; He looks upon his love and neighs unto her; Sometimes her arms infold him like a band: The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds, She answers him as if she knew his mind: She would, he will not in her arms be bound; Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven's thunder; Being proud, as females are, to see him woo her, And when from thence he struggles to be gone, The iron bit he crusheth 'tween his teeth, She puts on outward strangeness, seems unkind, 310 She locks her lily fingers one in one. Controlling what he was controlled with. 270 Spurns at his love and scorns the heat he feels, Beating his kind embracements with her heels. 'Fondling,' she saith, 'since I have hemm'd thee here His ears up-prick'd; his braided hanging mane Within the circuit of this ivory pale, 230 Upon his compass'd crest now stand on end; Then, like a melancholy malcontent, I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer; His nostrils drink the air, and forth again, He veils his tail that, like a falling plume, Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale: As from a furnace, vapours doth he send: Cool shadow to his melting buttock lent: Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry, His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire, He stamps and bites the poor flies in his fume. Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie. Shows his hot courage and his high desire. His love, perceiving how he is enraged, Grew kinder, and his fury was assuaged. Within this limit is relief enough, Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps, Sweet bottom-grass and high delightful plain, With gentle majesty and modest pride; His testy master goeth about to take him; Round rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps, When, lo, the unback'd breeder, full of fear, 320 To shelter thee from tempest and from rain As who should say 'Lo, thus my strength is tried, 280 Jealous of catching, swiftly doth forsake him, Then be my deer, since I am such a park; And this I do to captivate the eye With her the horse, and left Adonis there: No dog shall rouse thee, though a thousand bark.'240 Of the fair breeder that is standing by.' As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them, Out-stripping crows that strive to over-fly them. © Bell Shakespeare Education 2009 19

All swoln with chafing, down Adonis sits, Once more the engine of her thoughts began: I know not love,' quoth he, 'nor will not know it, Banning his boisterous and unruly beast: 'O fairest mover on this mortal round, Unless it be a boar, and then I chase it; 410 And now the happy season once more fits, Would thou wert as I am, and I a man, 'Tis much to borrow, and I will not owe it; That love-sick Love by pleading may be blest; My heart all whole as thine, thy heart my wound; 370 My love to love is love but to disgrace it; For lovers say, the heart hath treble wrong For one sweet look thy help I would assure thee, For I have heard it is a life in death, When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue. 330 Though nothing but my body's bane would cure thee! That laughs and weeps, and all but with a breath.

An oven that is stopp'd, or river stay'd, 'Give me my hand,' saith he, 'why dost thou feel it?' 'Who wears a garment shapeless and unfinish'd? Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage: 'Give me my heart,' saith she, 'and thou shalt have it: Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth? So of concealed sorrow may be said; O, give it me, lest thy hard heart do steel it, If springing things be any jot diminish'd, Free vent of words love's fire doth assuage; And being steel'd, soft sighs can never grave it: They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth: But when the heart's attorney once is mute, Then love's deep groans I never shall regard, The colt that's back'd and burden'd being young The client breaks, as desperate in his suit. Because Adonis' heart hath made mine hard.' Loseth his pride and never waxeth strong. 420

He sees her coming, and begins to glow, 'For shame,' he cries, 'let go, and let me go; 'You hurt my hand with wringing; let us part, Even as a dying coal revives with wind, My day's delight is past, my horse is gone, 380 And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat: And with his bonnet hides his angry brow; And 'tis your fault I am bereft him so: Remove your siege from my unyielding heart; Looks on the dull earth with disturbed mind, 340 I pray you hence, and leave me here alone; To love's alarms it will not ope the gate: Taking no notice that she is so nigh, For all my mind, my thought, my busy care, Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery; For all askance he holds her in his eye. Is how to get my palfrey from the mare.' For where a heart is hard they make no battery.'

O, what a sight it was, wistly to view Thus she replies: 'Thy palfrey, as he should, 'What! canst thou talk?' quoth she, 'hast thou a tongue? How she came stealing to the wayward boy! Welcomes the warm approach of sweet desire: O, would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing! To note the fighting conflict of her hue, Affection is a coal that must be cool'd; Thy mermaid's voice hath done me double wrong; How white and red each other did destroy! Else, suffer'd, it will set the heart on fire: I had my load before, now press'd with bearing: 430 But now her cheek was pale, and by and by The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none; Melodious discord, heavenly tune harshsounding, It flash'd forth fire, as lightning from the sky. Therefore no marvel though thy horse be gone. 390 Ear's deep-sweet music, and heart's deep-sore wounding.

Now was she just before him as he sat, 'How like a jade he stood, tied to the tree, 'Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love And like a lowly lover down she kneels; 350 Servilely master'd with a leathern rein! That inward beauty and invisible; With one fair hand she heaveth up his hat, But when he saw his love, his youth's fair fee, Or were I deaf, thy outward parts would move Her other tender hand his fair cheek feels: He held such petty bondage in disdain; Each part in me that were but sensible: His tenderer cheek receives her soft hand's print, Throwing the base thong from his bending crest, Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor see, As apt as new-fall'n snow takes any dint. Enfranchising his mouth, his back, his breast. Yet should I be in love by touching thee.

O, what a war of looks was then between them! 'Who sees his true-love in her naked bed, 'Say, that the sense of feeling were bereft me, Her eyes petitioners to his eyes suing; Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white, And that I could not see, nor hear, nor touch, 440 His eyes saw her eyes as they had not seen them; But, when his glutton eye so full hath fed, And nothing but the very smell were left me, Her eyes woo'd still, his eyes disdain'd the wooing: His other agents aim at like delight? 400 Yet would my love to thee be still as much; And all this dumb play had his acts made plain Who is so faint, that dare not be so bold For from the stillitory of thy face excelling With tears, which, chorus-like, her eyes did rain. 360 To touch the fire, the weather being cold? Comes breath perfumed that breedeth love by smelling. Full gently now she takes him by the hand, 'Let me excuse thy courser, gentle boy; A lily prison'd in a gaol of snow, And learn of him, I heartily beseech thee, 'But, O, what banquet wert thou to the taste, Or ivory in an alabaster band; To take advantage on presented joy; Being nurse and feeder of the other four! So white a friend engirts so white a foe: Though I were dumb, yet his proceedings teach thee; Would they not wish the feast might ever last, This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling, O, learn to love; the lesson is but plain, And bid Suspicion double-lock the door, Show'd like two silver doves that sit a-billing. And once made perfect, never lost again.' Lest Jealousy, that sour unwelcome guest, Should, by his stealing in, disturb the feast?' 450 © Bell Shakespeare Education 2009 20

Once more the ruby-colour'd portal open'd, 'O, where am I?' quoth she, 'in earth or heaven, 'Now let me say "Good night," and so say you; Which to his speech did honey passage yield; Or in the ocean drench'd, or in the fire? If you will say so, you shall have a kiss.' Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd What hour is this? or morn or weary even? 'Good night,' quoth she, and, ere he says 'Adieu,' Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, Do I delight to die, or life desire? The honey fee of parting tender'd is: Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds, But now I lived, and life was death's annoy; Her arms do lend his neck a sweet embrace; Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds. But now I died, and death was lively joy. Incorporate then they seem; face grows to face. 540

This ill presage advisedly she marketh: 'O, thou didst kill me: kill me once again: Till, breathless, he disjoin'd, and backward drew Even as the wind is hush'd before it raineth, Thy eyes' shrewd tutor, that hard heart of thine, 500 The heavenly moisture, that sweet coral mouth, Or as the wolf doth grin before he barketh, Hath taught them scornful tricks and such disdain Whose precious taste her thirsty lips well knew, Or as the berry breaks before it staineth, 460 That they have murder'd this poor heart of mine; Whereon they surfeit, yet complain on drouth: Or like the deadly bullet of a gun, And these mine eyes, true leaders to their queen, He with her plenty press'd, she faint with dearth His meaning struck her ere his words begun. But for thy piteous lips no more had seen. Their lips together glued, fall to the earth.

And at his look she flatly falleth down, 'Long may they kiss each other, for this cure! Now quick desire hath caught the yielding prey, For looks kill love and love by looks reviveth; O, never let their crimson liveries wear! And glutton-like she feeds, yet never filleth; A smile recures the wounding of a frown; And as they last, their verdure still endure, Her lips are conquerors, his lips obey, But blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth! To drive infection from the dangerous year! Paying what ransom the insulter willeth;550 The silly boy, believing she is dead, That the star-gazers, having writ on death, Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so Claps her pale cheek, till clapping makes it red; May say, the plague is banish'd by thy breath. 510 high, That she will draw his lips' rich treasure dry: And all amazed brake off his late intent, 'Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted, For sharply he did think to reprehend her, 470 What bargains may I make, still to be sealing? And having felt the sweetness of the spoil, Which cunning love did wittily prevent: To sell myself I can be well contented, With blindfold fury she begins to forage; Fair fall the wit that can so well defend her! So thou wilt buy and pay and use good dealing; Her face doth reek and smoke, her blood doth boil, For on the grass she lies as she were slain, Which purchase if thou make, for fear of slips And careless lust stirs up a desperate courage, Till his breath breatheth life in her again. Set thy seal-manual on my wax-red lips. Planting oblivion, beating reason back, Forgetting shame's pure blush and honour's wrack. He wrings her nose, he strikes her on the cheeks, 'A thousand kisses buys my heart from me; He bends her fingers, holds her pulses hard, And pay them at thy leisure, one by one. Hot, faint, and weary, with her hard embracing, He chafes her lips; a thousand ways he seeks What is ten hundred touches unto thee? Like a wild bird being tamed with too much handling,560 To mend the hurt that his unkindness marr'd: Are they not quickly told and quickly gone? 520 Or as the fleet-foot roe that's tired with chasing, He kisses her; and she, by her good will, Say, for non-payment that the debt should double, Or like the froward infant still'd with dandling, Will never rise, so he will kiss her still. 480 Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble? He now obeys, and now no more resisteth, While she takes all she can, not all she listeth. The night of sorrow now is turn'd to day: 'Fair queen,' quoth he, 'if any love you owe me, Her two blue windows faintly she up-heaveth, Measure my strangeness with my unripe years: What wax so frozen but dissolves with tempering, Like the fair sun, when in his fresh array Before I know myself, seek not to know me; And yields at last to every light impression? He cheers the morn and all the earth relieveth; No fisher but the ungrown fry forbears: Things out of hope are compass'd oft with venturing, And as the bright sun glorifies the sky, The mellow plum doth fall, the green sticks fast, Chiefly in love, whose leave exceeds commission: So is her face illumined with her eye; Or being early pluck'd is sour to taste. Affection faints not like a pale-faced coward, But then woos best when most his choice is froward. 570 Whose beams upon his hairless face are fix'd, 'Look, the world's comforter, with weary gait, As if from thence they borrow'd all their shine. His day's hot task hath ended in the west; 530 When he did frown, O, had she then gave over, Were never four such lamps together mix'd, The owl, night's herald, shrieks, "'Tis very late;" Such nectar from his lips she had not suck'd. Had not his clouded with his brow's repine; 490 The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest, Foul words and frowns must not repel a lover; But hers, which through the crystal tears gave light, And coal-black clouds that shadow heaven's light What though the rose have prickles, yet 'tis pluck'd: Shone like the moon in water seen by night. Do summon us to part and bid good night. Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast, Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last. © Bell Shakespeare Education 2009 21

For pity now she can no more detain him; 'On his bow-back he hath a battle set 'And more than so, presenteth to mine eye The poor fool prays her that he may depart: Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes; 620 The picture of an angry-chafing boar, She is resolved no longer to restrain him; His eyes, like glow-worms, shine when he doth fret; Under whose sharp fangs on his back doth lie Bids him farewell, and look well to her heart, 580 His snout digs sepulchres where'er he goes; An image like thyself, all stain'd with gore; The which, by Cupid's bow she doth protest, Being moved, he strikes whate'er is in his way, Whose blood upon the fresh flowers being shed He carries thence incaged in his breast. And whom he strikes his cruel tushes slay. Doth make them droop with grief and hang the head.

'Sweet boy,' she says, 'this night I'll waste in sorrow, 'His brawny sides, with hairy bristles arm'd, 'What should I do, seeing thee so indeed, For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch. Are better proof than thy spear's point can enter; That tremble at the imagination? Tell me, Love's master, shall we meet to-morrow? His short thick neck cannot be easily harm'd; The thought of it doth make my faint heart bleed, Say, shall we? shall we? wilt thou make the match?' Being ireful, on the lion he will venture: And fear doth teach it divination: 670 He tells her, no; to-morrow he intends The thorny brambles and embracing bushes, I prophesy thy death, my living sorrow, To hunt the boar with certain of his friends. As fearful of him, part, through whom he rushes. 630 If thou encounter with the boar to-morrow.

'The boar!' quoth she; whereat a sudden pale, 'Alas, he nought esteems that face of thine, 'But if thou needs wilt hunt, be ruled by me; Like lawn being spread upon the blushing rose, 590 To which Love's eyes pay tributary gazes; Uncouple at the timorous flying hare, Usurps her cheek; she trembles at his tale, Nor thy soft hands, sweet lips and crystal eyne, Or at the fox which lives by subtlety, And on his neck her yoking arms she throws: Whose full perfection all the world amazes; Or at the roe which no encounter dare: She sinketh down, still hanging by his neck, But having thee at vantage,--wondrous dread!-- Pursue these fearful creatures o'er the downs, He on her belly falls, she on her back. Would root these beauties as he roots the mead. And on thy well-breath'd horse keep with thy hounds.

Now is she in the very lists of love, 'O, let him keep his loathsome cabin still; 'And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare, Her champion mounted for the hot encounter: Beauty hath nought to do with such foul fiends: Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles 680 All is imaginary she doth prove, Come not within his danger by thy will; How he outruns the wind and with what care He will not manage her, although he mount her; They that thrive well take counsel of their friends.640 He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles: That worse than Tantalus' is her annoy, When thou didst name the boar, not to dissemble, The many musets through the which he goes To clip Elysium and to lack her joy. 600 I fear'd thy fortune, and my joints did tremble. Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.

Even as poor birds, deceived with painted grapes, 'Didst thou not mark my face? was it not white? 'Sometime he runs among a flock of sheep, Do surfeit by the eye and pine the maw, Saw'st thou not signs of fear lurk in mine eye? To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell, Even so she languisheth in her mishaps, Grew I not faint? and fell I not downright? And sometime where earth-delving conies keep, As those poor birds that helpless berries saw. Within my bosom, whereon thou dost lie, To stop the loud pursuers in their yell, The warm effects which she in him finds missing My boding heart pants, beats, and takes no rest, And sometime sorteth with a herd of deer: She seeks to kindle with continual kissing. But, like an earthquake, shakes thee on my breast. Danger deviseth shifts; wit waits on fear: 690

But all in vain; good queen, it will not be: 'For where Love reigns, disturbing Jealousy 'For there his smell with others being mingled, She hath assay'd as much as may be proved; Doth call himself Affection's sentinel; 650 The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt, Her pleading hath deserved a greater fee; Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny, Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled She's Love, she loves, and yet she is not loved. 610 And in a peaceful hour doth cry "Kill, kill!" With much ado the cold fault cleanly out; 'Fie, fie,' he says, 'you crush me; let me go; Distempering gentle Love in his desire, Then do they spend their mouths: Echo replies, You have no reason to withhold me so.' As air and water do abate the fire. As if another chase were in the skies.

'Thou hadst been gone,' quoth she, 'sweet boy, ere this, 'This sour informer, this bate-breeding spy, 'By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill, But that thou told'st me thou wouldst hunt the boar. This canker that eats up Love's tender spring, Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear, O, be advised! thou know'st not what it is This carry-tale, dissentious Jealousy, To harken if his foes pursue him still: With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore, That sometime true news, sometime false doth bring, Anon their loud alarums he doth hear; 700 Whose tushes never sheathed he whetteth still, Knocks at my heat and whispers in mine ear And now his grief may be compared well Like to a mortal butcher bent to kill. That if I love thee, I thy death should fear: 660 To one sore sick that hears the passing-bell.

'Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch 'And not the least of all these maladies 'What have you urged that I cannot reprove? Turn, and return, indenting with the way; But in one minute's fight brings beauty under: The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger: Each envious brier his weary legs doth scratch, Both favour, savour, hue and qualities, I hate not love, but your device in love, Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay: Whereat the impartial gazer late did wonder, That lends embracements unto every stranger. 790 For misery is trodden on by many, Are on the sudden wasted, thaw'd and done, You do it for increase: O strange excuse, And being low never relieved by any. As mountain-snow melts with the midday sun. 750 When reason is the bawd to lust's abuse!

'Lie quietly, and hear a little more; 'Therefore, despite of fruitless chastity, 'Call it not love, for Love to heaven is fled, Nay, do not struggle, for thou shalt not rise: 710 Love-lacking vestals and self-loving nuns, Since sweating Lust on earth usurp'd his name; To make thee hate the hunting of the boar, That on the earth would breed a scarcity Under whose simple semblance he hath fed Unlike myself thou hear'st me moralize, And barren dearth of daughters and of sons, Upon fresh beauty, blotting it with blame; Applying this to that, and so to so; Be prodigal: the lamp that burns by night Which the hot tyrant stains and soon bereaves, For love can comment upon every woe. Dries up his oil to lend the world his light. As caterpillars do the tender leaves.

'Where did I leave?' 'No matter where,' quoth he, 'What is thy body but a swallowing grave, 'Love comforteth like sunshine after rain, 'Leave me, and then the story aptly ends: Seeming to bury that posterity But Lust's effect is tempest after sun; 800 The night is spent.' 'Why, what of that?' quoth she. Which by the rights of time thou needs must have, Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain, 'I am,' quoth he, 'expected of my friends; If thou destroy them not in dark obscurity? 760 Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done; And now 'tis dark, and going I shall fall.' If so, the world will hold thee in disdain, Love surfeits not, Lust like a glutton dies; 'In night,' quoth she, 'desire sees best of all 720 Sith in thy pride so fair a hope is slain. Love is all truth, Lust full of forged lies.

'But if thou fall, O, then imagine this, 'So in thyself thyself art made away; 'More I could tell, but more I dare not say; The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips, A mischief worse than civil home-bred strife, The text is old, the orator too green. And all is but to rob thee of a kiss. Or theirs whose desperate hands themselves do slay, Therefore, in sadness, now I will away; Rich preys make true men thieves; so do thy lips Or butcher-sire that reaves his son of life. My face is full of shame, my heart of teen: Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn, Foul-cankering rust the hidden treasure frets, Mine ears, that to your wanton talk attended, Lest she should steal a kiss and die forsworn. But gold that's put to use more gold begets.' Do burn themselves for having so offended.' 810

'Now of this dark night I perceive the reason: 'Nay, then,' quoth Adon, 'you will fall again With this, he breaketh from the sweet embrace, Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shine, Into your idle over-handled theme: 770 Of those fair arms which bound him to her breast, Till forging Nature be condemn'd of treason, The kiss I gave you is bestow'd in vain, And homeward through the dark laund runs apace; For stealing moulds from heaven that were divine; 730 And all in vain you strive against the stream; Leaves Love upon her back deeply distress'd. Wherein she framed thee in high heaven's despite, For, by this black-faced night, desire's foul Look, how a bright star shooteth from the sky, To shame the sun by day and her by night. nurse, So glides he in the night from Venus' eye. Your treatise makes me like you worse and worse. 'And therefore hath she bribed the Destinies Which after him she darts, as one on shore To cross the curious workmanship of nature, 'If love have lent you twenty thousand tongues, Gazing upon a late-embarked friend, To mingle beauty with infirmities, And every tongue more moving than your own, Till the wild waves will have him seen no more, And pure perfection with impure defeature, Bewitching like the wanton mermaid's songs, Whose ridges with the meeting clouds contend: 820 Making it subject to the tyranny Yet from mine ear the tempting tune is blown So did the merciless and pitchy night Of mad mischances and much misery; For know, my heart stands armed in mine ear, Fold in the object that did feed her sight. And will not let a false sound enter there; 780 'As burning fevers, agues pale and faint, Whereat amazed, as one that unaware Life-poisoning pestilence and frenzies wood, 740 'Lest the deceiving harmony should run Hath dropp'd a precious jewel in the flood, The marrow-eating sickness, whose attaint Into the quiet closure of my breast; Or stonish'd as night-wanderers often are, Disorder breeds by heating of the blood: And then my little heart were quite undone, Their light blown out in some mistrustful wood, Surfeits, imposthumes, grief, and damn'd despair, In his bedchamber to be barr'd of rest. Even so confounded in the dark she lay, Swear nature's death for framing thee so fair. No, lady, no; my heart longs not to groan, Having lost the fair discovery of her way. But soundly sleeps, while now it sleeps alone. © Bell Shakespeare Education 2009 23

And now she beats her heart, whereat it groans, And as she runs, the bushes in the way Here kennell'd in a brake she finds a hound, That all the neighbour caves, as seeming troubled, 830 Some catch her by the neck, some kiss her face, And asks the weary caitiff for his master, Make verbal repetition of her moans; Some twine about her thigh to make her stay: And there another licking of his wound, Passion on passion deeply is redoubled: She wildly breaketh from their strict embrace, 'Gainst venom'd sores the only sovereign plaster; 'Ay me!' she cries, and twenty times 'Woe, woe!' Like a milch doe, whose swelling dugs do ache, And here she meets another sadly scowling, And twenty echoes twenty times cry so. Hasting to feed her fawn hid in some brake. To whom she speaks, and he replies with howling.

She marking them begins a wailing note By this, she hears the hounds are at a bay; When he hath ceased his ill-resounding noise, And sings extemporally a woeful ditty; Whereat she starts, like one that spies an adder Another flap-mouth'd mourner, black and grim, 920 How love makes young men thrall and old men dote; Wreathed up in fatal folds just in his way, Against the welkin volleys out his voice; How love is wise in folly, foolish-witty: The fear whereof doth make him shake and shudder; 880 Another and another answer him, Her heavy anthem still concludes in woe, Even so the timorous yelping of the hounds Clapping their proud tails to the ground below, And still the choir of echoes answer so. 840 Appals her senses and her spirit confounds. Shaking their scratch'd ears, bleeding as they go.

Her song was tedious and outwore the night, For now she knows it is no gentle chase, Look, how the world's poor people are amazed For lovers' hours are long, though seeming short: But the blunt boar, rough bear, or lion proud, At apparitions, signs and prodigies, If pleased themselves, others, they think, delight Because the cry remaineth in one place, Whereon with fearful eyes they long have gazed, In such-like circumstance, with suchlike sport: Where fearfully the dogs exclaim aloud: Infusing them with dreadful prophecies; Their copious stories oftentimes begun Finding their enemy to be so curst, So she at these sad signs draws up her breath End without audience and are never done. They all strain courtesy who shall cope him first. And sighing it again, exclaims on Death. 930

For who hath she to spend the night withal This dismal cry rings sadly in her ear, 'Hard-favour'd tyrant, ugly, meagre, lean, But idle sounds resembling parasites, Through which it enters to surprise her heart; 890 Hateful divorce of love,'--thus chides she Death,-- Like shrill-tongued tapsters answering every call, Who, overcome by doubt and bloodless fear, 'Grim-grinning ghost, earth's worm, what dost thou mean Soothing the humour of fantastic wits? 850 With cold-pale weakness numbs each feeling part: To stifle beauty and to steal his breath, She says ''Tis so:' they answer all ''Tis so;' Like soldiers, when their captain once doth yield, Who when he lived, his breath and beauty set And would say after her, if she said 'No.' They basely fly and dare not stay the field. Gloss on the rose, smell to the violet?

Lo, here the gentle lark, weary of rest, Thus stands she in a trembling ecstasy; 'If he be dead,--O no, it cannot be, From his moist cabinet mounts up on high, Till, cheering up her senses all dismay'd, Seeing his beauty, thou shouldst strike at it:-- And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast She tells them 'tis a causeless fantasy, O yes, it may; thou hast no eyes to see, The sun ariseth in his majesty; And childish error, that they are afraid; But hatefully at random dost thou hit. 940 Who doth the world so gloriously behold Bids them leave quaking, bids them fear no more:-- Thy mark is feeble age, but thy false dart That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish'd gold. And with that word she spied the hunted boar, 900 Mistakes that aim and cleaves an infant's heart.

Venus salutes him with this fair good-morrow: Whose frothy mouth, bepainted all with red, 'Hadst thou but bid beware, then he had spoke, 'O thou clear god, and patron of all light, 860 Like milk and blood being mingled both together, And, hearing him, thy power had lost his power. From whom each lamp and shining star doth borrow A second fear through all her sinews spread, The Destinies will curse thee for this stroke; The beauteous influence that makes him bright, Which madly hurries her she knows not whither: They bid thee crop a weed, thou pluck'st a flower: There lives a son that suck'd an earthly mother, This way runs, and now she will no further, Love's golden arrow at him should have fled, May lend thee light, as thou dost lend to other.' But back retires to rate the boar for murther. And not Death's ebon dart, to strike dead.

This said, she hasteth to a myrtle grove, A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways; 'Dost thou drink tears, that thou provokest such weeping? Musing the morning is so much o'erworn, She treads the path that she untreads again; What may a heavy groan advantage thee? 950 And yet she hears no tidings of her love: Her more than haste is mated with delays, Why hast thou cast into eternal sleeping She hearkens for his hounds and for his horn: Like the proceedings of a drunken brain,910 Those eyes that taught all other eyes to see? Anon she hears them chant it lustily, Full of respects, yet nought at all respecting; Now Nature cares not for thy mortal vigour, And all in haste she coasteth to the cry. 870 In hand with all things, nought at all effecting. Since her best work is ruin'd with thy rigour.'

Here overcome, as one full of despair, 'No, no,' quoth she, 'sweet Death, I did but jest; Where they resign their office and their light She vail'd her eyelids, who, like sluices, stopt Yet pardon me I felt a kind of fear To the disposing of her troubled brain;1040 The crystal tide that from her two cheeks fair When as I met the boar, that bloody beast, Who bids them still consort with ugly night, In the sweet channel of her bosom dropt; Which knows no pity, but is still severe; 1000 And never wound the heart with looks again; But through the flood-gates breaks the silver rain, Then, gentle shadow,--truth I must confess,-- Who like a king perplexed in his throne, And with his strong course opens them again. 960 I rail'd on thee, fearing my love's decease. By their suggestion gives a deadly groan,

O, how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow! ''Tis not my fault: the boar provoked my tongue; Whereat each tributary subject quakes; Her eyes seen in the tears, tears in her eye; Be wreak'd on him, invisible commander; As when the wind, imprison'd in the ground, Both crystals, where they view'd each other's sorrow, 'Tis he, foul creature, that hath done thee wrong; Struggling for passage, earth's foundation shakes, Sorrow that friendly sighs sought still to dry; I did but act, he's author of thy slander: Which with cold terror doth men's minds confound. But like a stormy day, now wind, now rain, Grief hath two tongues, and never woman yet This mutiny each part doth so surprise Sighs dry her cheeks, tears make them wet again. Could rule them both without ten women's wit.' That from their dark beds once more leap her eyes;

Variable passions throng her constant woe, Thus hoping that Adonis is alive, And, being open'd, threw unwilling light As striving who should best become her grief; Her rash suspect she doth extenuate; 1010 Upon the wide wound that the boar had trench'd All entertain'd, each passion labours so, And that his beauty may the better thrive, In his soft flank; whose wonted lily white That every present sorrow seemeth chief,970 With Death she humbly doth insinuate; With purple tears, that his wound wept, was drench'd: But none is best: then join they all together, Tells him of trophies, statues, tombs, and stories No flower was nigh, no grass, herb, leaf, or weed, Like many clouds consulting for foul weather. His victories, his triumphs and his glories. But stole his blood and seem'd with him to bleed.

By this, far off she hears some huntsman hollo; 'O Jove,' quoth she, 'how much a fool was I This solemn sympathy poor Venus noteth; A nurse's song ne'er pleased her babe so well: To be of such a weak and silly mind Over one shoulder doth she hang her head; The dire imagination she did follow To wail his death who lives and must not die Dumbly she passions, franticly she doteth; This sound of hope doth labour to expel; Till mutual overthrow of mortal kind! She thinks he could not die, he is not dead: 1060 For now reviving joy bids her rejoice, For he being dead, with him is beauty slain, Her voice is stopt, her joints forget to bow; And flatters her it is Adonis' voice. And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again. 1020 Her eyes are mad that they have wept til now.

Whereat her tears began to turn their tide, 'Fie, fie, fond love, thou art so full of fear Upon his hurt she looks so steadfastly, Being prison'd in her eye like pearls in glass; 980 As one with treasure laden, hemm'd thieves; That her sight dazzling makes the wound seem three; Yet sometimes falls an orient drop beside, Trifles, unwitnessed with eye or ear, And then she reprehends her mangling eye, Which her cheek melts, as scorning it should pass, Thy coward heart with false bethinking grieves.' That makes more gashes where no breach should be: To wash the foul face of the sluttish ground, Even at this word she hears a merry horn, His face seems twain, each several limb is doubled; Who is but drunken when she seemeth drown'd. Whereat she leaps that was but late forlorn. For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled.

O hard-believing love, how strange it seems As falcon to the lure, away she flies; 'My tongue cannot express my grief for one, Not to believe, and yet too credulous! The grass stoops not, she treads on it so light; And yet,' quoth she, 'behold two Adons dead! 1070 Thy weal and woe are both of them extremes; And in her haste unfortunately spies My sighs are blown away, my salt tears gone, Despair and hope makes thee ridiculous: The foul boar's conquest on her fair delight; 1030 Mine eyes are turn'd to fire, my heart to lead: The one doth flatter thee in thoughts unlikely, Which seen, her eyes, as murder'd with the view, Heavy heart's lead, melt at mine eyes' red fire! In likely thoughts the other kills thee quickly. 990 Like stars ashamed of day, themselves withdrew; So shall I die by drops of hot desire.

Now she unweaves the web that she hath wrought; Or, as the snail, whose tender horns being hit, 'Alas, poor world, what treasure hast thou lost! Adonis lives, and Death is not to blame; Shrinks backward in his shelly cave with pain, What face remains alive that's worth the viewing? It was not she that call'd him, all-to naught: And there, all smother'd up, in shade doth sit, Whose tongue is music now? what canst thou boast Now she adds honours to his hateful name; Long after fearing to creep forth again; Of things long since, or any thing ensuing? She clepes him king of graves and grave for kings, So, at his bloody view, her eyes are fled The flowers are sweet, their colours fresh and trim; Imperious supreme of all mortal things. Into the deep dark cabins of her head: But true-sweet beauty lived and died with him. 1080

'Bonnet nor veil henceforth no creature wear! She looks upon his lips, and they are pale; By this, the boy that by her side lay kill'd Nor sun nor wind will ever strive to kiss you: She takes him by the hand, and that is cold; Was melted like a vapour from her sight, Having no fair to lose, you need not fear; She whispers in his ears a heavy tale, And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd, The sun doth scorn you and the wind doth hiss you: As if they heard the woeful words she told; A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white, But when Adonis lived, sun and sharp air She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes, Resembling well his pale cheeks and the blood Lurk'd like two thieves, to rob him of his fair: Where, lo, two lamps, burnt out, in darkness Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood.1170 lies; 'And therefore would he put his bonnet on, She bows her head, the new-sprung flower to smell, Under whose brim the gaudy sun would peep; Two glasses, where herself herself beheld Comparing it to her Adonis' breath, The wind would blow it off and, being gone, A thousand times, and now no more reflect; 1130 And says, within her bosom it shall dwell, Play with his locks: then would Adonis weep; 1090 Their virtue lost, wherein they late excell'd, Since he himself is reft from her by death: And straight, in pity of his tender years, And every beauty robb'd of his effect: She crops the stalk, and in the breach appears They both would strive who first should dry his tears. 'Wonder of time,' quoth she, 'this is my spite, Green dropping sap, which she compares to tears. That, thou being dead, the day should yet be light. 'To see his face the lion walk'd along 'Poor flower,' quoth she, 'this was thy fathers Behind some hedge, because he would not fear him; 'Since thou art dead, lo, here I prophesy: guise-- To recreate himself when he hath sung, Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend: Sweet issue of a more sweet-smelling sire-- The tiger would be tame and gently hear him; It shall be waited on with jealousy, For every little grief to wet his eyes: If he had spoke, the wolf would leave his prey Find sweet beginning, but unsavoury end, To grow unto himself was his desire, 1180 And never fright the silly lamb that day. Ne'er settled equally, but high or low, And so 'tis thine; but know, it is as good That all love's pleasure shall not match his woe. 1140 To wither in my breast as in his blood. 'When he beheld his shadow in the brook, The fishes spread on it their golden gills; 1100 'It shall be fickle, false and full of fraud, 'Here was thy father's bed, here in my breast; When he was by, the birds such pleasure took, Bud and be blasted in a breathing-while; Thou art the next of blood, and 'tis thy right: That some would sing, some other in their bills The bottom poison, and the top o'erstraw'd Lo, in this hollow cradle take thy rest, Would bring him mulberries and ripe-red cherries; With sweets that shall the truest sight beguile: My throbbing heart shall rock thee day and night: He fed them with his sight, they him with berries. The strongest body shall it make most weak, There shall not be one minute in an hour Strike the wise dumb and teach the fool to speak. Wherein I will not kiss my sweet love's flower.' 'But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar, Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave, 'It shall be sparing and too full of riot, Thus weary of the world, away she hies, Ne'er saw the beauteous livery that he wore; Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures; And yokes her silver doves; by whose swift aid 1190 Witness the entertainment that he gave: The staring ruffian shall it keep in quiet, Their mistress mounted through the empty skies If he did see his face, why then I know Pluck down the rich, enrich the poor with treasures; 1150 In her light chariot quickly is convey'd; He thought to kiss him, and hath kill'd him so. 1110 It shall be raging-mad and silly-mild, Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen Make the young old, the old become a child. Means to immure herself and not be seen. ''Tis true, 'tis true; thus was Adonis slain: He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear, 'It shall suspect where is no cause of fear; Who did not whet his teeth at him again, It shall not fear where it should most mistrust; But by a kiss thought to persuade him there; It shall be merciful and too severe, And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine And most deceiving when it seems most just; Sheathed unaware the tusk in his soft groin. Perverse it shall be where it shows most toward, Put fear to valour, courage to the coward. 'Had I been tooth'd like him, I must confess, With kissing him I should have kill'd him first; 'It shall be cause of war and dire events, But he is dead, and never did he bless And set dissension 'twixt the son and sire; 1160 My youth with his; the more am I accurst.' 1120 Subject and servile to all discontents, With this, she falleth in the place she stood, As dry combustious matter is to fire: And stains her face with his congealed blood. Sith in his prime Death doth my love destroy, They that love best their loves shall not enjoy.' © Bell Shakespeare Education 2009 26

REFERENCES

Crystal, D. and Crystal, B., Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary and Language Companion, Penguin, London. 2002

Dunton-Downer, L & Riding, A., Essential Shakespeare Handbook, Doorling Kindersley Limited, UK 2004

Rozakis, L, (1999) The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Shakespeare, Penguin, USA http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/odeonmelancholy.html http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/creative-arts.html http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/venus.html http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/adonis.html