[180] The Emperor of Ice-Cream
Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
-- Wallace Stevens
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"A poem need not have a meaning and, like most things in nature, often
does not have."
- Wallace Stevens, from Opus Posthumous, "Adagia" (1959)
A line like that should absolve me of all critical responsiblities :-)
Actually, though, this poem (one of Stevens' most famous) is hardly
nonsensical. Rather, it describes (with great clarity, I might add) a
funeral scene, while commenting on the very human fallibilities of those
attending the wake.
Not much more to say, I'm afraid; I'll leave it to you to come up with
your own interpretations of each line (especially the most controversial
of them all, 'let be be finale of seem'). Good luck :-).
thomas.
[Links]
Lots and lots of lovely links for you today.
A good introductory essay to the meaning of this poem can be found at
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~lizkelly/eng4.htm
while a more in-depth analysis lurks at
http://www.wmich.edu/english/tchg/640/Mark.Emperor.html
http://www.thebrothers.com/eraaz/poets.html#The Emperor of Ice Cream
is part of a larger article on Stevens and Theodore Roethke.
And of course there's the Minstrels biography at poem #154
Read all our prevous poems at http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/
From: "Hortensia" <tillman@>
From: "Nancy Catmull" <ncatmull@>
"Let be be finale of seem" speaks to me of resolve, when in a brief
moment a blurred vision focuses into clarity and all questions become
answered, perhaps with a deep sigh, the sort which makes one's shoulders
rise up and then fall.
From: Jerry Jewell <jj@>
Bodies used to be prepared for funeral at the homes of the deceased. The
mortician came to the house. The roller of big cigars is the mortician
who wrapped the body. They probably wanted the muscular mortician
because the body was large.
The curds were the morticians white makeup which came in powder form and
had to be mixed.
The lamp was the mortician's portable lamp which had an adjustable beam
which was shown on the deceased's face. It often had a pleasant rose
tint to it which looked good against the white makeup.
This is a not only a mundane funeral, but the writer encourages everyone
to go on with life - enjoy your ice cream because only the pleasures of
life are really important.
Finally (sic) " let be be finale of seem" - Even though this is a seemly
(cheap, gaudy or lowly) funeral, just let it be. Don't fret over the
tackiness of this woman's finale.
Hope this helps someone understand the poem.
Jerry Jewell
jj@
From: "claude caspar" <claudecaspar@>
"Let be=85" is a stunning gloss on Hamlet. It echoes throughout the
text, though most only think of "To be or not=85" Hamlet never let's
Be{ing] be- he tries to get to the bottom of everything. But, if one
can let Seems be, and accept the "given" as and end in itself=85
Stevens observes that if you taste Life like we all know Ice-cream is
best tasted (the first lick is always most exquisite), without being
cloyed, we can master experience, Life & Death. Notice that dead news
wraps dying flowers; compare with the dying surrounding a grave. Why
Death is the mother of beauty=85
From: VnVJC37@
An "emperor" refers to an all-powerful ruler who is revered and often feared
by his subjects, and whose power often is seen as a divine right. By
contrasting this to ice cream--a sweet but frivolous and empty dessert--I believe
Stevens is telling us that no matter what we accomplish in life, and no matter how
respected we become, in the end we all become the dead woman, "cold" and
"dumb," when death comes for us. Stevens also tells us that the woman was a
seamstress, that her way to find dignity in a meaningless and godless universe was to
make fantails. So in a sense, the woman is the protaginist of the poem, much
like the old man in Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." I can spend pages
upon pages with the comparison, but I'll keep this mercifully short.
From: MrWhite351@
I feel this poem has a lot to do with sensual pleasures of the body chiefly
ruling people. I think the emperor is a metaphore for one who brings pleasure
into our lives. Concupiscence, big muscles, ice cream, most of the images in
the poem are totally carnal in nature. The emperor coould also be a diversion
from the misery of the funeral that is taking place.
Maybe someone could add on her eso I don't feel completely foolish.
-Bill-
From: "Mitchell Lawrence Henderson" <mlhender@>
This poem has haunted me since my Lit professor in Denver first showed
it to me when I was 18. To this day it sticks with me; I don't think
it's possible to ever fully explain its meaning, despite its clear
vision into a reality I maybe can't accept. I still struggle with it.
Bless you for posting it, "ice cream poem" is all it took on google to
bring back a flood of memories over the past decade.
From: "Paul" <pwfowler@>
although this is probably very very outdated, i think of the last line
,repeated tice in th poem Emperor of Ice Cream as meaning this:
Emperor: ruler
Ice cream: happiness, pleasure
so it works: The only ruler is the ruler of pleasure
i believe he is deriding people in power, saying that they do not have real
power, that the only person who has real power is the one who controls
pleasure and happiness. To me, the Emperor of Ice Cream is Ice Cream itself.
From: "Splat" <richieacc@>
I read this poem in Steven King's "Salem's Lot" when I was 16. No
internet access at the time, so I discussed it with my English teacher.
We thought that the poor dead woman was a prostitute (concupiscent
curds) (horny feet), that the coldness referred not only to her body
temperature, but also to her heart in life. The three seemed relevant to
my teacher, who, being a catholic, immediately thought of the holy
trinity. And the lack of three glass knobs (eyes) reflected the absence
of God in her life. The roller of big cigars, would then be the pimp,
the wenches, her co-workers, and the boys, her customers. The dresser of
deal is fate. The fantails a representation of the peace she found in
death. The lamp beam was God's judgement. Her face is covered to hide
her shame.
That's the way we saw it. I doubt that it was accurate, but we all see
things our own way.
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From: hugh.keel@ Tue Jul 5 21:02:56 2005
The "emperor of Ice Cream" is death.
The "dresser of deal" is life which is broken and worn with use and
time.
The sheet represents the lies that we tell ourselves to cover our
disappointments
The "finale of seem" is our perceptions and myths that get us through
the day, contrasted to the lamp and its' beam which is cold reality.
Hugh N. Keel
C, Patient & Business Services
Tripler Army Medical Center
Honolulu, HI 96859
(808) 433-1016
hugh.keel@ <mailto:hugh.keel@us.army.mil>
From: "David Baldwin, PhD" <dvb@>
RE: "Let be be finale of seem."
I think this means: let what is put an end to appearances, or what seems to
be. The corresponding line in the second stanza reiterates this sentiment
using different words, "Let the lamp affix its beam" (i.e., shine through
phoniness and pretension).
In a sense, the author shares a Buddhist-like viewpoint.
david
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From: macmend <macmend@>
jonathan
From: Seth Donut <sethdonut@>
"Let be" from "Let be be finale of seem" sets a subjunctive mood. To "seem"
is to appear like, as if to imply something that isn't real, like a dream.
That one line can be interpreted as letting reality be the end of illusion.
It's a throw back to Hamlet, in the line "we are made of worms" which says
that death is the great leveller of everything. It's best not to judge
others like you are superior, because in the end death gets us all. The
reality of everything is that people die, and no matter how taboo and
profane the subject of the death of a prostitute is, it's still something
that everyone goes through, because everyone dies all the same.