Once more to the lake. "Once More to the Lake" by E. B. White: Reading Quiz 2022-10-20

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"Once More to the Lake" is an essay written by E.B. White, first published in Harper's Magazine in 1941. The essay is a reflection on White's experience of returning to a lake in Maine where he spent summers as a child with his family. As he revisits the lake as an adult, he is struck by the sense of nostalgia and the realization that time has passed and he is now the adult, while his own father, who used to take him to the lake, is no longer alive.

The essay is structured around the contrast between White's childhood experiences at the lake and his adult experiences. As a child, White remembers the lake as a place of wonder and freedom, where he could explore the woods and swim in the cool, clear water. He remembers the simple pleasures of catching a fish or roasting marshmallows over a campfire.

As an adult, White finds that the lake is still just as beautiful as he remembers it, but his perspective has changed. He notices the changes in the landscape and the passing of time in a way that he didn't as a child. He also reflects on the changes in himself and his own family, and the fact that he is now the one responsible for taking his son to the lake, just as his father did for him.

Throughout the essay, White uses vivid and evocative language to convey the sense of nostalgia and longing that he feels as he revisits the lake. He writes, "The years slide by like sand through an hourglass and suddenly there are no more summers. The floorboards of the boat are as familiar as the rough face of a long-dead grandfather." This passage captures the sense of loss and the realization that time is fleeting, and that one's own youth is gone forever.

One of the most poignant moments in the essay comes when White describes the moment when he and his son are swimming in the lake, and he realizes that he is now the adult, while his son is the child. He writes, "I took out after him, swimming the old, familiar strokes, my bloodstream all of a sudden rich with memories. I could see him, just ahead, but he was very small now and I seemed to be catching up with him with every stroke." This passage captures the sense of connection between past and present, and the realization that the roles have reversed, with White now the one responsible for guiding and protecting his son.

Overall, "Once More to the Lake" is a beautifully written and evocative essay that captures the sense of nostalgia and longing that many people feel when they revisit a place from their childhood. Through vivid and descriptive language, White conveys the sense of loss and change that he experiences as he revisits the lake and reflects on the passage of time. The essay is a powerful reminder of the importance of cherishing and holding onto the memories of our youth, even as we move forward into adulthood.

Once More To The Lake Summary

once more to the lake

The fishing, nature gazing, walking through the grass, chasing the insects etc. White shows the lake is unchanged, but this may be only in his own perception. He then explains that now he is taking his own son to that very same lake. The main idea of white's essay is that the passage of time. White Once More To The Lake. Perhaps the new and noisier boats are not really that disruptive.

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Once More To The Lake Summary By E.B. White • English Summary

once more to the lake

It is just that he was used to the old and less noisy ones, thereby making his claims more personal and not necessarily real. I felt dizzy and didn't know which rod I was at the end of. White references this in the final lines: I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. In essence, the advancement of technology destroys the simplicity of a more natural, rural setting. The partitions in the camp were thin and did not extend clear to the top of the rooms, and as I was always the first up I would dress softly so as not to wake the others, and sneak out into the sweet outdoors and start out in the canoe, keeping close along the shore in the long shadows of the pines. For instance, when White arrives at the lakefront, even though he wishes to enjoy the scene and the experience of being at the lake once again, he becomes somewhat bothered by the noise of the new boats that are on the lake.

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Analysis of E. B. White’s “Once More to the Lake”

once more to the lake

We caught two bass, hauling them in briskly as though they were mackerel, pulling them over the side of the boat in a businesslike manner without any landing net, and stunning them with a blow on the back of the head. He still likes what he sees and feels. We would walk out with a bottle of pop apiece and sometimes the pop would backfire up our noses and hurt. This transformation is necessary for him to find enjoyment in the journey. White's vivid 1941 personal essay 'Once More to the Lake,' the lake serves as the setting for both the author's past and present. Analysis of Key Passages and Themes Going back to that idea of dual existence, you can see this concept in action when White and his son go fishing on their second day at the lake: There had been no years between the ducking of this dragonfly and the other one - the one that was part of memory. It is strange how much you can remember about places like that once you allow your mind to return into the grooves which lead back.

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"Once More to the Lake" by E. B. White: Reading Quiz

once more to the lake

In effect, his mindset transforms to go back to his childhood. We all got ringworm from some. Early on, White reflects on his own childhood when his father would take him to the lake. He is different now, devoid of the same energy and hopes. Arriving was less exciting nowadays, when you sneaked up in your car and parked it under a tree near the camp and took out the bags and in five minutes it was all over, no fuss, no loud wonderful fuss about trunks. His jumps into the cold waters of the lake, making new friends with fellow visitors as White loses his old friends to desertion and death.

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E. B. White

once more to the lake

There had been no years. Essays of EB White. As he buckled the swollen belt suddenly my groin felt the chill of death. Throughout the essay, White describes a dual existence that he experiences when spending time with his son at the lake. I would be in the middle of some simple act, I would be picking up a bait box or laying down a table fork, or I would be saying something, and suddenly it would be not I but my father who was saying the words or making the gesture. The setting of the lake, and White's childhood associations with the lake, demonstrate that White is denying his own mortality.

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Once More To The Lake Analysis Essay Example

once more to the lake

He is clear that his son's maturation is a sign that White is getting closer to death. I felt the same damp moss covering the worms in the bait can, and saw the dragonfly alight on the tip of my rod as it hovered a few inches from the surface of the water. New York: Tricknor and Fields, 1990. White in which the lake he is visiting represents both his past and his present. We went fishing the first morning. . The new boats have noisier engines.

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Once More to the Lake: Summary, Theme & Analysis

once more to the lake

A There had been no years. It took a cool nerve, because if you threw the switch a twentieth of a second too soon you would catch the flywheel when it still had speed enough to go up past center, and the boat would leap ahead, charging bull-fashion at the dock. I began to sustain the illusion that he was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, that I was my father. The word choices 'dizzy' and 'memory' reinforce the idea that this essay is an emotional reflection on the passage of time. White's refusal to accept that he is now the father, not the child, demonstrates the theme of man versus himself, since the speaker is facing an internal conflict.

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Once More to the Lake

once more to the lake

The shouts and cries of the other campers when they saw you, and the trunks to be unpacked, to give up their rich burden. This condition creates an interesting departure from reality into what he wants to see based on his childhood experiences. Nonetheless, a White continues his story, it is indicated that he has a liking for old engines. Considering that White shows that his perceptions actually switches from that of an adult and that of a boy, it is arguable that his actual experience of the lake as an adult is marred by such switching between perceptions. White is taken back down the memory lane when he watches his son Joel excites at the prospects of his first experience of life at the lake.


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once more to the lake

The essay moves in a non-linear non-chronological way, as White weaves in and out of the past and present, following the flow of his mental process, or as what many would call stream-of-consciousness. Summary of 'once more to the lake' in e. The cycle of time and space weaves a fluid form of storytelling where White constantly goes through different ages. I was sure that the tarred road would have found it out and I wondered in what other ways it would be desolated. This was the note that jarred, the one thing that would sometimes break the illusion and set the years moving. It stands as a reminder of his childhood experiences.

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