Pale Fire Study Guide

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Commentary, Line 957: Night Rote though Line 1000: [=Line 1: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain] Summary

A poem from Shade's Night Rote was Kinbote's first introduction to Shade, Kinbote comments. He interprets Shade's poem to state that the title "Pale Fire" comes from Shakespeare, but he can't identify where the quote is from. The only Shakespeare Kinbote has is a Zemblan edition of Timon of Athens. Kinbote is certain "pale fire" is not in its text.

Kinbote explains the translator Conmal taught himself English and then translated Shakespeare's works into Zemblan. He also translated Milton and other English pets, dying while working on Kipling. Kinbote describes Conmal as large, self-isolating, and passionless.

In Shade's poem, he mentions the sound of horseshoes, and Kinbote confirms that a neighbor could be heard playing horseshoes. He does not.....

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