Venus and Adonis

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Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

Venus and Adonis

poem by Shakespeare

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July 14, 2026

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Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis — Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis Title page of Venus and Adonis (1593) by William Shakespeare.

"Venus and Adonis" is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare, first published in 1593. It is written in a specific stanza form, now known as the Venus and Adonis stanza, which consists of an iambic pentameter quatrain and a couplet with an ababcc rhyme scheme.1

The poem retells the classical myth of Venus, the Roman goddess of love (identified with the Greek Aphrodite), and Adonis, a beautiful youth. In the myth, Venus falls in love with Adonis, who is tragically killed by a wild boar while hunting. The story explores themes of love, desire, and the cycle of life and death, with Adonis's death and subsequent revival symbolizing the decay of nature in winter and its renewal in spring. Shakespeare's poem is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses.23

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Henry Wriothesley, 3rd earl of Southampton
…Shakespeare, who dedicated the poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) to him. It has also been argued, albeit inconclusively, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were addressed to him. If so, the earlier sonnets, urging marriage, must have been written before the beginning (in 1595) of Southampton’s intrigue…
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…Shakespeare, who dedicated the poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) to him. It has also been argued, albeit inconclusively, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were addressed to him. If so, the earlier sonnets, urging marriage, must have been written before the beginning (in 1595) of Southampton’s intrigue…
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William Shakespeare
The poems of William Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) are the only works that Shakespeare seems to have shepherded through the printing process. Both owe a good deal to Ovid , the Classical poet whose writings Shakespeare encountered repeatedly in school. These two poems…
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Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) are the only works that Shakespeare seems to have shepherded through the printing process. Both owe a good deal to Ovid , the Classical poet whose writings Shakespeare encountered repeatedly in school. These two poems…
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erotica
…novel Chin p’ing, William Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, the writings of the Marquis de Sade, and D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
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…novel Chin p’ing, William Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, the writings of the Marquis de Sade, and D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
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humanism
Chapman, Jonson, and Shakespeare
and Plautus— Venus and Adonis (composed 1592–93) and The Comedy of Errors (c. 1589–94), respectively—and drew on Ovid and Livy for his poem The Rape of Lucrece (1594). In Julius Caesar (1599–1600), Antony and Cleopatra (1606–07), and Coriolanus (c. 1608), he developed Plutarchan biography
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and Plautus— Venus and Adonis (composed 1592–93) and The Comedy of Errors (c. 1589–94), respectively—and drew on Ovid and Livy for his poem The Rape of Lucrece (1594). In Julius Caesar (1599–1600), Antony and Cleopatra (1606–07), and Coriolanus (c. 1608), he developed Plutarchan biography
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Venus and Adonis stanza
…William Shakespeare in his poem Venus and Adonis (1593).
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…William Shakespeare in his poem Venus and Adonis (1593).
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