Pale Fire, Canto Four Summary

Shade begins discussing poetry. There are two ways to write. The first is only in the mind, and the second is by writing while composing. The first is more difficult, as thoughts will fly away while the poet writes. Shade writes best in the mornings, in the middle of summer. He describes moving out of his body one morning and then seeing himself on the lawn, while both the spirit and the Shade on the lawn were really asleep in bed.

Shade shaves himself in the bathtub, with a shaving mirror affixed to the wall. His skin is becoming thin, and his beard is thick. He makes himself a bloody mess. When he gets a sudden poetic idea, his hairs stand on end, and suddenly the razor can race through them.

Shade gives a list of his...