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A poem, a poem, forsooth! So strange and sweet was it to discover this "Haze, Dolores" (she!) in its special bower of names, with its bodyguard of roses--a fairy princess between her two maids of honor. I am trying to analyze the spine-thrill of delight it gives me, this name among all those others. What is it that excites me almost to tears (hot, opalescent, thick tears that poets and lovers shed)?
In Part One, Chapter 11, Humbert reads a list of students in Lolita’s class at school as if it were a poem, a choice which highlights Humbert’s artistic instincts. His desire to see the world through this kind of aesthetic lens continuously emerges in the language of his narration as well, and this quotation serves as a prime example of how he uses words to shape his worldview. The fantastical imagery that Humbert uses here reflects the largely positive way in he, and the reader by proxy, views his obsession with Lolita.
And now take down the following important remark: the artist in me has been given the upper hand over the gentleman. It is with a great effort of will that in this memoir I have managed to tune my style to the tone of the journal that I kept when Mrs. Haze was to me but an obstacle. That journal of mine is no more; but I have considered it my artistic duty to preserve its intonations no matter how false and brutal they may seem to me now.
Once Humbert reaches the point in his story where he decides to marry Charlotte Haze, he stops and addresses the tone of his narrative voice with his audience. This quotation, which appears in Part One, Chapter 17, serves as a reminder to the reader just how much power Humbert has to manipulate his account of Lolita through words alone. He relies on this ability throughout the entire novel in an attempt to downplay the gravity of his moral failings.
And do not pity C. Q. One had to choose between him and H.H., and one wanted H.H. to exist at least a couple of months longer, so as to have him make you live in the minds of later generations. I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita.
In the final lines of the novel, Humbert comments on the significance of the narrative he has written and suggests that his work will finally allow him to be with Lolita. This idea emphasizes that language has the power to withstand the test of time, and the thought of his memories with Lolita being preserved for eternity brings Humbert peace in the final chapter of his life. The poetic nature of the novel’s conclusion also serves as one final attempt to depict Humbert’s relationship with Lolita as something inherently beautiful despite its flaws.
