View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Commentary, Lines 1-4: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain, etc. through Line 70: the new TV.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the first metaphor Shade uses to describe himself?
(a) A snowflake falling to the ground.
(b) A great bear.
(c) A bird flying into a window.
(d) A pheasant's feet.

2. The first draft of "Pale Fire" was composed on a series of index cards. How many index cards did the author use?
(a) 4.
(b) 80.
(c) 166.
(d) 334.

3. Which of the following best describes John Shade's daughter?
(a) Humble and worried.
(b) Unattractive and intellegent.
(c) Introverted, but fascinating.
(d) Attractive, but tormented.

4. What was John Shade's "first book" as mentioned in Canto Four?
(a) Lolita.
(b) Nite Rote.
(c) Dim Gulf.
(d) Hebe's Cup.

5. Which of the following has Shade renounced?
(a) His family.
(b) His country.
(c) His friends.
(d) His religion.

Short Answer Questions

1. Charles Kinbote assumes John Shade wanted to write a great deal more about Zembla, but did not. Who or what does Kinbote attribute this too?

2. Of the following, which most accurately describes the lines in the first stanza of Canto One?

3. What does Shade find out when he tracks down the woman who had the same vision of the after-life that he did?

4. John Shade is skeptical but he wants to believe in what?

5. How many lines are in Canto Four?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 258 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample