- 1
What does Venus mean when she says "And yet not cloy thy lips with loathed satiety, / But rather famish them amid their plenty" (19-20)?
Venus is saying here that she will kiss Adonis so much that his lips will turn pale and appear famished, even though they will be being overwhelmed by how much she is kissing them. She goes on to describe the many varieties of kisses she will give him. The passage reads (maybe particularly to the 21st century reader) as near-violent, and offers a pretty lucid picture of the nature of Venus's excessive infatuation.
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Discuss the significance of these erotic lines from Venus: "Graze on my lips, and if those hill be dry, / Stray...
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