Analysis Of E. B. White's Once More To The Lake

In E.B. White's personal essay, 'Once More to the Lake,' the lake serves as the setting for both the author's past and present. In his younger days, White tells that his father would take him to the lake every summer. As he grew up, he had a son and explained that he also took him to the same lake as did his father took him to long ago. In the essay, White explained many things about the lake and what changed has overcome it since he has last been there when he was a boy. Such as, the lake's motion, how it looked around the shores, and how it felt to the touch.

Firstly, White explains the lake's motion. As stated in his essay, "This lake you could leave to its own devices for a few hours and come back to, and find that it had not stirred, this constant and trustworthy body of water." explains what he sees as he watched the lake and observe how it looks. This was around the time when he and his son were fishing together in a boat on the lake. While trying to catch two pairs of bass, White observed in modest upon the lake and noticed the small waves were the same, which chucked water under the chin of the boat while they fished. The feeling he felt while watching the calm waters of the

lake reminded him of his past memories when he uses to go to when he was with his dad that summer.

Secondly, the lake's looks in White's eyes looked so serene.

Sight is one of the five sense White uses to describe his surroundings around the lake. For example, "There were cottages sprinkled around the shores, and it was in farming although the shores of the lake were quite heavily wooded." This quote gives a brief description on what the lake looks like and what surrounds it in his current present position. It was not an entirely new feeling, but in this setting, it grew much stronger. White felt that he was living in a dual existence which meant that he was having flashbacks of his memories of what the lake looked like back in his younger days. On the other hand, another feeling he felt, while remembering his past experiences, was also kind of a sinister and creepy

sensation.

Lastly, White's feeling of touch come into play as he touched the waters of the lake that brought back memories. "Some of the other campers were in swimming, along the shore, one of them with a cake of soap, and the water felt thin and clear and insubstantial." As White watched the children play, he felt the touch of the thin and clear water just by looking and observing carefully. By doing this, he produced the sense of touch just by looking into the lake water.

In conclusion, White's essay, describes many things he remembers through his memories as the five senses known as, sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell. The sense of touch and sight combines both memories of White past and present events to trigger in a parallel fashion when he visited the lake with his son during that summer. As he remembered old memories from the past, he became more intrigued by them and realized that he became his father. After realizing that it will not be long till the cycle stats all over again with his son.