Blog Post 3

E. B. White’s Once More to the Lake is a narrative that follows a father and son who go to the father’s childhood retreat. White is most known for his sentimental writing style, as observed in his famous story Charlotte’s Web (Editors), and that style is continued in this coming-of-age essay that outlines the hardships of letting go of the past. The essay does not lessen the value of nostalgia, but the central argument is that people should cherish the past, not relive it. This purpose is demonstrated through White’s use of polysyndeton, where he says, “Inside [the same store], all was just as it had always been, except there was more Coco-Cola and not so much Moxie and root beer and birch beer and sarsaparilla” (White 184). This string of conjunctions helps to show White’s thought process that many things have changed in the place he so vividly remembered, furthering the argument that one cannot truly relive memories. White’s nostalgic recollection of the past is also revealed when he romanticizes using diacope: “Summertime, oh, summertime, pattern of life indelible, the fade-proof lake, the woods unshatterable…” (White 182). In this quotation, White explains that he cannot forget the importance of the memories he formed at the lake, also claiming that his childhood will remain with him as he continues living. Lastly, White’s use of a metaphor contributes to the overall purpose of the essay. When his son went to swim in the lake as he always had, White stated, “Languidly, and with no thought of going in, I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the [cold swimsuit]. …suddenly my groin felt the chill of death” (White 185). This metaphor describes the moment that White stopped attempting to recreate his childhood, but instead connected to his son who gave him his truest remembrance. While this story is largely situational to White, the rhetorical devices used revealed to his audience the futility of existing in the past, instilling in them the idea that the present should be cherished.

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

This piece of famous art may have one intended meaning, but it shows a distorted sense of time that reflects one's tendency to hold onto the past. The digitized painting was retrieved from wikiart.org (Dali)

Works Cited

Dali, Salvador. The Persistence of Memory. Digital image. www.wikiart.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2016.

Editors, Biography.com. "E.B. White Biography." The Biography.com Website. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 17 Aug. 2016.

White, E. B. "Once More to the Lake." The Best American Essays of the Century. Ed. Joyce Carol Oates and Robert Atwan. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. 179-85. Print.