May I make the fairly obvious suggestion that Shade is not much based on any single, identifiable poet but is (of course) partly composite, partly fiction.  And that is so I can suggest one possible component of that composite: Robert Browning.  I suggest Browning because his best known poetry is rhymed, enjambed narrative, like Pale Fire.  Neither Browning nor Shade’s verse is heroic couplets (as some say), because of that enjambment, unlike the strongly end-stopped couplets of Pope.  Furthermore, somewhat less salient, is that, to some people, Browning is best known for the love story with Elizabeth Barrett, distantly parallel with John and Sybil.

 

Eric Hyman

Professor of English,

Assistant Chair

Graduate Coordinator

Department of English

Fayetteville State University

1200 Murchison Rd.

Fayetteville, NC 28301

(910) 672-1901

ehyman@uncfsu.edu