Venus and Adonis (Quarto 1, 1592-3)
Author: William ShakespeareEditor: Hardy M. CookPeer Reviewed


¶Now quicke de
sire hath caught the yeelding pray,
¶And gluttonlike
she feeds, yet neuer filleth,
¶Her lips are conquerers, his lips obay,
550Paying what ran
some the in
sulter willeth:
¶_VVho
se vultur thought doth pitch the price
so hie,
¶_That
she will draw his lips rich trea
sure drie.
¶And hauing felt the
sweetne
sse of the
spoile,
¶VVith blind fold furie
she begins to forrage,
555Her face doth reeke, &
smoke, her blood doth boile,
¶And carele
sse lu
st
stirs vp ade
sperat courage,
¶_Planting obliuion, beating rea
son backe,
¶_Forgetting
shames pure blu
sh, & honors wracke.
¶Hot, faint, and wearie, with her hard imbracing,
560Like a wild bird being tam'd with too much hādling,
¶Or as the fleet-foot Roe that's tyr'd with cha
sing,
¶Or like the froward infant
stild with dandling:
¶_He now obayes, and now no more re
si
steth,
¶_VVhile
she takes all
she can, not all
she li
steth.
565VVhat waxe
so frozen but di
ssolues with tempring,
¶And yeelds at la
st to euerie light impre
ssion?
¶Things out of hope, are compa
st oft with ventring,
¶Chiefly in loue, who
se leaue exceeds commi
ssion:
¶_Affection faints not like a pale-fac'd coward,
570_But thē woes be
st, whē mo
st his choice is froward.
¶VVhen he did frowne, ô had
she then gaue ouer,
¶Such nectar from his lips
she had not
suckt,
¶Foule wordes, and frownes, mu
st not repell a louer,
¶VVhat though the ro
se haue prickles, yet tis pluckt?
575_VVere beautie vnder twentie locks kept fa
st,
¶_Yet loue breaks through, & picks them all at la
st.

