Toughing it out

New England’s most famous poet, Robert Frost (1874-1963), was a brilliant ironist. He spent the largest part of his life in New Hampshire and Vermont.

“One reason a lot of us live here is probably that surviving and flourishing in this climate is such a good, moral thing to do. It’s decadent to be warm all the time.’’

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“What New England is, is a state of mind, a place where dry humor and perpetual disappointment blend to produce an ironic pessimism that folks from away find most perplexing.’’

— Willem Lange (born 1935), an East Montpelier, Vt.-based writer and former building contractor. His weekly column, “A Yankee Notebook”, appears in several New England newspapers.

East Montpelier, Vt., town offices

— Photo by Magicpiano

'An ironic pessimism'

Willem Lange

“What New England is, is a state of mind, a place where dry humor and perpetual disappointment blend to produce an ironic pessimism that folks from away find most perplexing.’’

— Willem Lange (1935-2018), New Hampshire- and Vermont-based book author, newspaper columnist (“A Yankee Notebook”), outdoorsman and northern New England NPR host. He lived in East Montpelier, Vt., from 2007 to his death. Hit this link for his pre-death Web site.

— Photo by Magicpiano

A perplexing 'ironic pessimism'

“What New England is, is a state of mind, a place where dry humor and perpetual disappointment blend to produce an ironic pessimism that folks from away find most perplexing” 

― Willem Lange,  a writer based in the Upper Connecticut Valley.