In Lake, the language is predominantly straightforward and unadorned, with a splash of metaphor here and there to add intrigue. For instance, there is a lengthy description of the subject standing in waist-high water and then coming to shore to dry off the cranky shoulder, cramping heel tendons, [and] bad knees. These solely physical aspects are set against a more highbrow and obscure allusion to ancient statues of Dionysus as well as to the highly imagistic metaphor that concludes the poem.