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Identity in literature
Once more to the lake text
Once more to the lake text
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“Once More to the Lake” In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White, uses diction and syntax to reveal the main character’s attitude towards the lake in Maine. He has an uncertain attitude towards the lake throughout the essay because he is unsure of who he is between him and his son. On the ride there White, pondering, remembering old memories, keeps wondering if the lake is going to be the same warm place as it was when he was a kid. The lake is not just an ordinary lake to White, it’s a holy spot, a spot where he grew up every summer. “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot-the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps” (29). White’s diction and syntax
explains that the lake was its own unique place, a holy spot that had adventures left and right. He spells out the places that make the lake unique like the hills, streams, and coves. He is excited to get back to the holy spot that filled his childhood with memories. Before long White has realized that his holy spot may not be the same, or is that he is not the same? The fact maybe he can no longer enjoy the lake as kid has faced him with the fact of immortality. “ As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death.” That immortality feeling that he has now realized diverges his mind from the joy of the lake. The chill of death that he will someday die unsettles him. Through the essay E.B. White uses diction and syntax in many ways to change the feeling that he has towards the lake.
In “Once More to the Lake” emerged the Ideological content when the author says that his son does things in the same way he did when he went to the lake. In “Confluences” emerged the ideological content as well; it is about the last moments of the author’s uncle with her father. In addition, all of these essays present some Philosophical content. All of them requires a deep understanding of things ( Sowers and reapers) and life (confluences and Once More to the Lake). All of these essays ask for a search of the essence, not just the obvious but the abstract
The professional text that someone in my field would use is the ASQ-3. The ASQ-3 Ages & Stages Questionnaires is designed to screen children’s developmental performance that must be completed by the parents. It is a series of 21 questions with questions ranging in the areas from communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social skills specifically for 36 month to 38 month old toddlers. For the communication section, an example of a question asks is “When you ask your child to point to her ears, feet, hair, eyes, and nose, does she correctly point to at least seven body parts?”. In the gross motor section, a question ask “Does your child jump with both feet leaving the floor at the same time?”. A fine motor question that was asked was, “When drawing, does your child hold a pencil between her thumb and fingers like an adult does?”. The parent filling the questionnaire would bubble either yes, sometimes or not yet. There are 6 questions in each are
The lake is the main symbol in “Greasy Lake” that symbolizes youth corruption. When the narrator enters the lake, he describes it as already being “ankle-deep in muck and tepid water and still going strong” (Boyle 5). The filthy description of the water is used to show the gloomy and corrupt waters in this lake. The lake also was “fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires” (1). These descriptions revolving around the lake show that this lake was where people went to be “bad” people. Primitive acts were done here,
Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter.
The viewpoint of the world that the narrator has, completely alters as certain events take place throughout the story. His outlook on nature transforms into a wholly different standpoint as the story progresses. As his tale begins, the narrator sees himself as a tough guy or “bad character”. He believes he is invincible. There is nobody as cool as he is or as dangerous as him and his friends are. With his followers, the narrator goes to Greasy Lake, he takes in the nature that surrounds him. He thinks of himself to be a kid who knows everything. To him, the lake represents a night of misbehavior and partying. The unhealthy, treacherous atmosphere of Greasy Lake is alluring, fun, and exciting to someone as threatening as he is. “We went up to the lake because everyone went there, because we wanted to snuff the rich sent of possibility on the breeze, watch a girl take off her clothes and plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars, savor the incongruous full-throated roar of rock and roll against the primeval susurrus of frogs and crickets. This was nature.” This quote gives a clear idea of what the narrators perception of what not only nature is, but of what the world is. He lives to have fun. He is fearless and lives for the moment. All that life is to him is sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
The mention of the “one” Vermont poem is especially significant, as it implies that all of their poems are essentially the same, suggesting a uniformity of experiences among travelers, that the vast majority of travelers experience the same tranquility. Yet, the speaker’s experiences with nature are uniquely different, as her experience is tainted by racism that is inescapable even in the beauty of Vermont nature. Thus, because of her position in society, she isn’t allowed the same access to nature as every other traveler, making it impossible for her to write that “one Vermont poem” while still staying true to her
"Once More to the Lake," by E.B. White is a short story in which White recalls his annual summer vacations to the lake, and in turn develops a conflict within himself regarding the static and dynamic characteristics of this lake, and their relation to the changes that White himself is experiencing as he is growing older. When White takes his son to the lake, he comes to the sharp realization that certain aspects of both the lake and himself are different, and with a sense of reminiscence, White takes us from the time his father first took him to the lake, and tells the new story of his most recent visit when he is no longer a boy, but a father, showing his son this "holy place" for the very first time. Throughout the story, White comments on how many of the elements of the lake have changed, and how other things have stayed constant with the passage of time.
Within the essay “Once More to the Lake”, E.B. notes that “I bought myself a couple of bass hooks… returned to the lake… to revisit old haunts… When the others went swimming my son said he was going in… As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin left the chill of death (White 464). The essay “Once More to the Lake” brings a significant amount of attention towards the author’s attempt to secure personal satisfaction. It becomes quite obvious in the first few paragraphs, that the main character is on this vacation with his son, to recreate the careless feeling he use to have while vacationing with his dad as a child. Even though E.B. does not come out clearly and say it, the author is chasing some type of nostalgic feeling he clearly needs to feel better about life. On each page, White uses comparison and contrast to explain to the reader how the trip resembles the one he use to experience with his dad. By the end of the reading, the father begins to realize his vacation trip with his son will never be the same as the one he has dreamt about. He is no longer a child who can only notice the positive components of life. At this point, the father is an adult who will never have the innocence he once clung too. It takes some reflection for him to finally realize his place as a father in the situation. Comparison and contrast displays the idea that even though everything may look the same, it does not mean it feels the same. This mode rhetoric reflects back to the theme at the end of essay, as it concludes the author’s failed attempt to find some satisfaction from the
Richard Wagamese, the author of Indian Horse, uses imagery to convey the emotional state of being of Saul. Wagamese uses detailed descriptive language to entail the peace and reminiscence Saul feels at God’s Lake to the reader. Wagamese writes Saul’s experience re-visiting God’s Lake on page two hundred four as “The smell in the air was rich and earthy, with a wisp of swamp and bog. Dying things and living things together. The air was filled with birdsong. I broke through the trees fifty yards from the foot of the cliff. As I knelt on the stone beach, gazing up at the cliff, the clouds as its upper edge moved as though it was a living being, breathing.” Saul goes back to God’s Lake to understand his roots and happy memories once again. He finds peace within himself and nature. Wagamese conveys Saul’s feelings of nostalgia and peace of being close to his peoples’ land by describing each breathtaking experience he had while taking in his surroundings. The reader feels as though they have been taken into the scene and are taking in the same awe of nature Saul is experiencing. Wagamese also uses imagery to describe the regretful feelings Saul has while departing from the Kellys’ home. On page one hundred seventy-nine Wagamese describes Saul’s regretful departure as “ I stood in the kitchen and looked out to where the boards of the backyard rink sat in the pale
One of them is the dualism of night/day and dark/ light. Boyle uses the setting of the lake as a mean to express those two sides by the nighttime that symbolize the dark side of the boys and their mischievous behavior or those laconic adjectives “dark, rank, and mysterious” to express their state of mind then (50). However, he did the opposite by using a whole paragraph to describe the sunrise after the fatidic event. Mother Nature takes life for the first time in the story. "When the eastern half of the sky went from black to cobalt and the trees began to separate themselves from the shadows…” (54). This quote introduces a transition, a turning point in the life of our mischief narrator.
Anything that might reflect permanence is a mirage. The foreshadowing in this piece has an electric and chilling way of getting to E.B. White. The first example of foreshadowing is the storm.The thunderstorm represents death. Thunderstorms are usually a sign of a bad omen in literature. As White is describing the thunderstorm, the dynamic of being near the lake suddenly changes. “Then the kettle drum, then the snare, then the bass drum and cymbals, then crackling light against the dark, and the gods grinning and licking their chops in the hills,”(#4). The musical imagery reflect a symphony of sound. When the storm is finally over, White's son decides to go swimming.“ As he buckled the swollen belt suddenly my groin felt the chill of death,” (4). The chill that White gets is the realization of death. He realizes then and there that death is inevitable and accepts his mortality, but looking back on the lake he finds joy and hope. The lake is where his memories were made and they cleanse and heal
In “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White expresses a sense of wonder when he revisits a place that has significant memories. Upon revisiting the lake he once knew so well, White realizes that even though things in his life have changed, namely he is now the father returning with his son, the lake still remains the same. Physically being back at the lake, White faces an internal process of comparing his memory of the lake as a child, to his experience with his son. Throughout this reflection, White efficiently uses imagery, repetition, and tone to enhance his essay.
Although Frost lays out an ultimatum of these events to come, it is up to the reader to come to his own resolution to these images. This is why Frost paints this intense picture by the waters-to challenge the reader in a natural setting as to how to deal with it. As James Guimond stated in the anthology, "he assumed the lone individual could question and work out his or her own relationships to God and existence-preferably in a natural setting and with a few discrete references to Christianity and Transcendentalism" (1147). Therefore, it can be interpreted that Frost intended to blend nature with religion in these images. The confusion the reader deals with is matched by his own epiphany in dealing with the experience, and the result is a balance between the two.
Linguistics is the science of a language. Linguists depend on the use of certain aspects in order to analyse, describe and explain a human language; these aspects include semantics and pragmatics.
This poem portrays the unfortunate incident that occurred at Lake Cooloola due to white settlement. This tragic poem captures the essence of the peaceful partnership the wildlife shares with the land.