Pale Fire: Illustrated Sports Illustrated Sports Pale Fire Journal | Page 106

marriage between Disa and the King), there still exist many similarities be-
tween Disa and Sybil. An excerpt from Pale Fire where John describes Sybil is as
follows:
Your profile has not changed. The glistening teeth
Biting the careful lip; the shade beneath
The eye from the long lashes; the peach brown
Rimming the cheekbone; the dark silky brown
Of hair brushed up from the temple and from nape;
The very naked neck; the Persian shape
Of nose and eyebrow, you have kept it all (lines 261-267).
In Kinbote’s commentary to these lines, he mentions that this description of
Sybil matches that of his Disa. On page 207, Kinbote also states that “Disa at
thirty… bore a singular resemblance not, of course to Mrs. Shade as when I met
her, but to the idealized and stylized picture painted by the poet in those lines of
Pale Fire.” While Sybil’s relationship with John Shade has lasted much longer
than Disa’s did with the King, it is very evident throughout the poem that the
couple have become jaded. This is similar to how the King and Disa acted to-
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