What's that quote about summers as a kid?

March 23, 2013 6:43 PM

I'm wracking my brain and google for a quote.

I'd swear the quote was from EB White's Once More to the Lake, but I've reread that without finding the line in question. It was very much in line with the sentiment of the essay, saying that any place one spent summers as a youth gains a special, immortal place in memory. Maybe something about those places being a "paradise forever", only I remember "paradise" as an ancient Greek or Latin word like "Elysium". "Elysium Forever" just gets me death metal songs, though.

Ring any bells? Any better searchers out there?

posted by ldthomps to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

That sounds very much like either Ray Bradbury or James Agee to me.
posted by punchtothehead at 7:09 PM on March 23, 2013

I was going to say, sounds like something out of Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.
posted by silverstatue at 7:34 PM on March 23, 2013

Could 'Elysium' have been 'Arcadia'? (Or is that too obvious?)

Also, although it is highly unlikely to be your source, I cannot resist directing you to Jonathan Richman's 'That Summer Feeling'.
posted by feral_goldfish at 7:35 PM on March 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Dandelion Wine was also a great favorite of mine around the same time as the E.B. White, so that's a good guess, though I don't see that in a quick search of DW quotes, either.

And "Arcadia" also now sounds like the better word, but I fear that I'm getting too suggestible, so I'll leave y'all to your smart ideas.
posted by ldthomps at 7:54 PM on March 23, 2013

"Yes, summer was rituals, each with its natural time and place. The ritual of lemonade or ice-tea making, the ritual of wine, shoes, or no shoes, and at last, swiftly following the others, with quiet dignity, the ritual of the front-porch swing." -- Dandelion Wine.

...I'd forgotten, momentarily, how much I love that book.
posted by thanotopsis at 8:06 PM on March 23, 2013 [8 favorites]