Beauty beyond Expression

E.B. White is a leading American essayist and literary stylist. Among his most enduring essays is “Once More to the Lake.” White tells us in this essay that he and his son revisited his ideal youthful vacation spot and experienced the beauty of the lake. Series of scenic images in a montage make the reader drink in the indescribable beauty of nature: visual enjoyment and auditory rhythm coexist beautifully; placidity mingles with liveliness; memory of the past and present weaves together. Everything in the lakefront resort is beautiful. We can see beauty everywhere in this essay.

Visualization and audibility.

White makes his reader feel as if he or she is actually there when the event takes place. He accomplishes this through the use of strong sensory words and phrases. For example, when White describes the life along the shore, he uses figurative language to paint a picture for his reader. Instead of simply saying the lake, the wood, the pasture and the life along the shore, White refers to “the fade-proof lake, the wood unshatterable, the pasture with the sweet-fen and the juniper” as the “background”, and “the life along the shore” as the “design” of the picture. This vivid description not only keys us into the relationship between the scenery and human beings, but also leads our attention to the focus of the whole picture—human being. White follows a rule which is good for all the writers to follow. Always use the most specific, descriptive expression possible. Which paints a clearer picture for you—“the motors sounded noisy in the morning and quiet in the evening ” or “the motors made a petulant, irritable sound in the hot mornings and they whined about one’s ears like mosquitoes at night in the still evening”? Obviously, White accomplishes this descriptive aspect of beauty quite well. Another excellent example of this is his description of a typical thunderstorm. He regards the coming of the thunderstorm as an old melodrama: the beginning of the drama is the first feeling of oppression and heat, a curious darkening of the sky, and a lull in everything that had made life tick; the climax is the continuous rumble of the storm being like the musical instruments; the ending is calmness and return of light and hope and spirits. All the vivid descriptions enable the reader to soak up the atmosphere of scenic beauty.

Static and dynamic.

Authors of narration often jump right into the typical chronological narrative structure. However, White executes a more effective structure by tying the descriptions of static and dynamic state of the lake together. White also does a good job of avoiding a trap that the authors of narration often fall into—going to extremes. In White’s memory of all the early mornings, the cool and motionless lake was like a quiet and serene “cathedral”. When we compare the lake with the sea, the former seems “an enchanted sea” with the “constant and trustworthy body of water”. Although it is clear that White appreciates a great deal of placidity of the lake, he avoids neglecting the liveliness of the lake. If the essay is written exclusively in this peaceful and calm characteristic of the lake, it could sound as if the lake is in lack of vitality and silence of death is the main atmosphere of the lake. Fortunately, by depicting the lively human activities along the shore and the great harmony between human and nature, White avoids going into extremes and strikes a nice balance. He shows both the static and dynamic state of beauty.

Past and Present.

White makes good use of some symbols to illustrate the points of no passage of time. Showing the link between the past and present is an effective setup to connect the old and new generations, which is a thread that runs throughout the entire essay. In White’s childhood, he used to sneak quietly out and go off along the shore in a canoe, watching the dragonfly alight on the tip of his father’s rod and get simply drenched in the rain and go swimming in his dripping trunks. And now his son did the same thing as his father did in the past. All these “strong indestructible chains” symbolize the enduring and deathless tradition in all ages. Though the reader may sometimes be equally confused as the author, for the “creepy sensation” was able to create a sort of identity confusion and send our imagination wandering, we can still get further insight from experiencing the beauty of this precious cultural heritage which is and will be passed from generation to generation.

Beauty is everywhere in E. B. White’s “Once More to the Lake”. He uses the vivid language to describe the indescribable beauty from different aspects in the essay. Therefore, we can appreciate the beauty in this essay everywhere and indulge in the sensuous pleasures.

From the author:

Before I wrote this essay, I was totally confused. Commentary writing is really difficult for me, because I easily confuse it with responsive writing. Luckily, after Professor Du gave us some guidance on how to differentiate commentary from responsive writing, I decided to choose a topic which was quite familiar to me. As soon as I narrowed down the topic, I felt that I could get the right and concentrative direction of the commentary. Actually, beauty is everywhere in E.B White’s Once More to the Lake. I summarized different aspects of beauty in the essay and made the essay with sub-titles which can make my essay in good order and in sensible logic. In order to enhance the coherence of my essay, I got it done without any letup and polished it in another time. Professor Du once told us: “Write your essay when your mind is active.” It is advisable for all writers to follow this rule.