{"id":"01KG8B0SXZNZS89F0H6694M1PB","cid":"bafkreibyri2iszk5ntcv75rncmt54ewpmlmfxhxcskldyvfve44ghqkjjq","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreib53go4n3i5eqfhjgq5xefnruvlhlbzmrg5vxk5xwyrtcdz2afoti","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"02_venus_and_adonis_1905_facsimile_page_0019.jpg","height":2400,"key":"pdf-page-1769806521463-2e88lf7w0bp","label":"02_venus_and_adonis_1905_facsimile_page_0019.jpg","page_number":19,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":603599,"text":"VENUS\nAND\nADONIS\n13\nand subject. Neither makes it easy to quarrel with the\nconclusion that it was originally drafted while the poet's\nquick sympathetic intelligence was first growing conscious\nof its power. From the purely literary point of view the\nwork often reaches heights of poetic excellence, which\nmight have glorified the maturity of lesser men. But,\nviewed in relation to Shakespeare's ultimate achievements,\nit shows the promise of greatness more plainly than the\nfruition. The signs of immaturity are not to be mistaken.\nThe lascivious temper which plays about the leading incidents\nis more nearly allied to the ecstasies of adolescence than to\nthe ripe passion of manhood. There are many irrelevant\nand digressive details which, though as a rule they bear\nwitness to marvellous justness of observation and to excep-\ntional command of the rich harmonies of language, defy all\nlaws of artistic restraint. The metre, despite its melodious\nfluency, is not always so thoroughly under command as to\n^ avoid monotony and flatness. The luxuriance of the imagery\nis one of the poem's most notable characteristics, and for the\nmost part it serves with precision its illustrative purpose. But\nthere are occasional signs of the juvenile tendency — of the\nvagrant impulse — to accumulate figurative ornament for\nits own sake. Nearly all the figures are, moreover, drawn\nfrom a somewhat narrow round of homely experience, from\nthe sounds and sights of rural or domestic life. The < froward\ninfant stilPd with dandling', the changing aspects of the sky,\nthe timid snail creeping into its shell, the caterpillar devour-\ning foliage, are among the objects which are employed by\nthe poet to point his moral. All betray an alert familiarity\nwith everyday incidents of rustic existence. The fresh tone\nand the pictorial clearness of the many rural similes in the\nFenus and Adonis seem, in fact, to embody the poet's early","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:55:21.463Z","text_extracted_by":"pdf-processor","text_has_content":true,"text_source":"born_digital","uploaded":true,"width":1632},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG89K4X0DM39SSQK43XXG34R","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KG89JREDR8WY5QQGYR5FZRDY","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:55:22.303Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:55:24.887Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFH6ETXGRVD10WPNP3007D6"}}