E.B. White's "Once More to the Lake"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, for E. B. White in "Once More to the Lake," it is plain that the lake, its coves, streams and paths constitute "this holy spot." The author points out that, for the entire essay, White has built steadily the idea that this adventure is an opportunity for communion with nature, man and god. The paper concludes that, at the end, White realizes he is not his father or his son but that he is himself, which truncates the possibility of resurrection; it casts the richly woven tone poem into the void without another word.

From the Paper:

"Nominally, the essay concerns White's return to a lakeside camp where he spent boyhood summers, this time bringing along his own son for the first time. The Christian liturgy of the piece begins early: it is possible to view White and his son as priest and acolyte, especially as no other current family members are mentioned in the piece. All references to family are to White's birth family, not his son's siblings if any or mother. By this device, too, White places the piece in the realm of gospel, of a writing about magical things that are past, but somehow are to live on through some sort of mystical revisiting, not unlike the mystical revisiting in the Roman Catholic/Episcopal Eucharist of the passion of Christ."

More papers on E.B. White's "Once More to the Lake":

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