Did VN frequently use the word 'azure' outside Pale Fire, where it appears quite
frequently? The occurrence I can find is in The Gift: "She was rosy, this
Venice, and the water of her lagoon was azure". I thought it might shed light
on VN's attitude toward the word's use in the poem's first line. Also, "the
water of her lagoon" strikes me as unusual syntax and could support a reading
of all occurrences of the word as melodramatic.