Waxing Poetic about the Waxwing
Excerpts from the Pomona.edu blog,
posted on April 28, 2012 - by cboyle
"...the waxwing... participate in a mating ritual
called pairing, in which two waxwings pass a berry or small object back and
forth multiple times before one of them eats it. The pair does not defend
their territory, which is a possible explanation of why they have no true
song."
"The description of how
waxwings interact with each other reminds me of the relationship of poet and
commentator in Pale Fire, of Shade and Kinbote. If Shade is
truly a waxwing, maybe he would not be upset with Kinbote ‘hijacking’ his poem
through the commentary... the passing back and forth of fruit could be seen
literarily as Kinbote and Shade passing the poem back and forth until its ready
for the eventual “consumption” of the poem for the reader..."
"Any thoughts on waxwings, or Shade as a
waxwing?"
Jansy Mello: This is the third time (within
forty days) that I find interesting queries and informations
about Nabokov in a blog.
The idea of Shade as a waxwing, exchanging
berries/verses with Kinbote, has a quaintly poetic touch. However,
Kinbote would have to be a waxwing himself and, finally, so would the
readers should they be able to absorb the fermented-berry that results
from this delicate triangular courtship.