View source for The Emperor of Ice-Cream

{{short description|Poem written by Wallace Stevens}}
{{for|the Brian Moore novel|The Emperor of Ice-Cream (novel)}}

{{Listen |type=speech|filename= The Emperor of Ice-Cream (audio).flac |title= The Emperor of Ice-Cream |description= Recitation}}

{{quote box|bgcolor=lightyellow
|title = The Emperor of Ice-Cream
|quote = <poem>
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<!--not a mistake--> 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.
</poem>}}
"'''The Emperor of Ice-Cream'''" is a poem by [[Wallace Stevens]]'s first collection of poetry, ''[[Harmonium (poetry collection)|Harmonium]]'' (1923). Stevens' biographer, [[Paul Mariani]], identifies the poem as one of Stevens' personal favorites from ''Harmonium''.<ref>Mariani, Paul. ‘’The Whole Harmonium: The Life of Wallace Stevens,’’ [[Simon & Schuster]], 2016, pp. 149–198.</ref> The poem "wears a deliberately commonplace costume", he wrote in a letter, "and yet seems to me to contain something of the essential gaudiness of poetry; that is the reason why I like it".<ref>[[Wallace Stevens|Stevens, Wallace]]. [http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/s_z/stevens/letters.htm Letter to William Rose Benét]. 6 January 1933.</ref>

==Structure and meaning==
The simple poetic structure is of two stanzas related by an identical closing verse in each stanza. The poem is only clarified in its allusion upon completion of the reading of the second stanza which identifies a "cold" and "dumb" body as common references to a dead body. In this case a dead body is being prepared for a funeral.<ref name="Allen"/>

According to the critic [[Helen Vendler]], quoted by Austin Allen, the [[ice-cream]] in the poem is being prepared for serving at a [[Wake (ceremony)|funeral wake]].<ref name="Allen">{{cite web |author=Allen, Austin |title=Wallace Stevens: "The Emperor of Ice-Cream": The chilly heart of a whimsical poem |url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/248396 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129013403/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/248396 |archive-date=29 November 2014 |accessdate=16 November 2014 |work=Resources |publisher=[[Poetry Foundation]] |url-status=live }}</ref> The use of holiday sweets and heavy desserts for funerals is part of the culture of varying civilizations. In this case the reference is likely to [[Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)|Cuba]], which Stevens visited during business trips to [[Florida]]. The "emperor" of ice cream is illustrated through imagery by Stevens as sufficiently muscular to churn the ice-cream and blend in the sugar to make the customary funeral treat used in the country.<ref name="Allen"/>

In his book on Stevens, [[Thomas C. Grey]] sees the poem as a harsh didactic lesson studying the use of the metaphor of "coldness." Grey states, "Stevens knows the corruptions of coldness as well as its beauties. Chief among them is the heartless selfishness, represented by the sweet sinister cold of 'The Emperor of Ice-Cream.' In the kitchen a cigar-rolling man whips 'concupiscent curds' of ice cream as the wenches come and go; in the adjoining bedroom, a dead woman lies in undignified discard, 'cold ... and dumb' under a sheet, her horny feet protruding. Both rooms teach the cynical wisdom that 'The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream': what you see is what you get; look out for Number One; enjoy the sweet cold before the bitter cold claims you."<ref>Grey, Thomas. ''The Wallace Stevens Case''. [[Harvard University Press]]. 1991. Page 99-100.</ref>

According to Norman Foerster, instigator of the New Humanist movement in American criticism, this poem has been discussed for a long time, but maybe we mistake an exact meaning. Foerster wrote: “At this funeral (or wake) there is to be neither the pretense nor the fact of morbid grief.” These are expressed by ice-cream in this poem. At the same time there is neither disrespect for the dead nor a blinking of the fact of poverty and death. The world of his poem is a realistic and stable one.<ref>Foerster, Norman; Falk, Robert. ''American Poetry and Prose''. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1960,</ref>

According to Syunsuke Kamei, an honorary professor at the [[University of Tokyo]] and a scholar of American literature, this poem was composed by Stevens for his daughter. Stevens had a strong sense of fulfillment of life. He did not see death in a special light. This poem is telling us to take things easy, but seriously. Ice cream is an incarnation of a sense of fulfillment. It is easily melted, but it is a natural thing. Stevens tells us to enjoy the ice cream now. Ice-cream is a symbol of the summit of ordinary people’s delight.<ref>Waga Amerika bunkashi (My American Culture Journal)/ Shyunsuke Kamei / Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. /2003</ref>

==In popular culture==

* Composer [[Roger Reynolds]] wrote an avant garde, mixed-media dramatization of the poem for eight vocal soloists, piano, percussion, and double bass in 1961–62.
* In 1985, composer [[Gary Kulesha]] published a revision of his clarinet quartet named after the poem.
* [[Ken Nordine]], beat poet and innovator of a stylistic form known as "word jazz," recorded a rendition of Stevens's poem to the backing of eerily bubbly circus music on his 1994 album ''Upper Limbo''.
* Alternative rock group [[They Might Be Giants]] used the phrase "finale of seem" in their 1988 song "[[Lincoln (album)|Pencil Rain]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tmbw.net/wiki/Lyrics:Pencil_Rain |title=Lyrics:Pencil Rain – TMBW: The They Might Be Giants Knowledge Base |publisher=TMBW |date= |accessdate=2012-08-07}}</ref>
* [[Stephen King]] made several allusions to this poem; in his novels ''[[Salem's Lot]]'' and ''[[Insomnia (novel)|Insomnia]]''; in the short story "Harvey's Dream" from the collection ''[[Just After Sunset]]'', and in his miniseries ''[[Kingdom Hospital]]''.
* The poem was quoted in the film ''[[Pathology (film)|Pathology]]''.
* [[Dean Koontz]] referenced this poem in his book ''[[The Good Guy]]''.
* A soap made by the cosmetics company [[Lush (company)|Lush]] is named "The Emperor of Icecream" after this poem.
* The song "The King of Cream" by [[The Love Kills Theory]] is an homage to this poem.
* ''[[The Emperor of Ice-Cream (novel)|The Emperor of Ice-Cream]]'' (1965) by [[Brian Moore (novelist)|Brian Moore]] is a [[coming-of-age novel]] set in [[Belfast]].
* An Irish band called itself Emperor of Ice Cream and released two EPs, ''Puerile'' and ''Skin Tight'', in 1993.
* The hero of [[Tom Perotta]]'s ''Joe College'' reflects on the poem throughout the novel, wondering what the ice cream symbolizes.
* The heroine of Laura McNeal's National Book Award-nominated novel  ''Dark Water'' reads the poem for a high school class and wonders about its meaning.
* [[Spenser (character)|Spenser]], the hero of [[Robert B. Parker]]'s novel  ''[[School Days (novel)|School Days]]'' quotes from the poem.
* Author [[Alan Moore]] was a member in a band named Emperors of Ice Cream which recorded several songs, including "March of the Sinister Ducks", "Old Gangsters Never Die", and "Mr. A".
*Anthony Cappella published a novel ''The Empress of Ice-Cream'' in 2010.
* The protagonist of Andrew Smith's novel ''Grasshopper Jungle'' frequently cites "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" as his favorite poem.
* [[Ronald Shannon Jackson]] quotes the poem in various [[Last Exit (free jazz band)|Last Exit]] performances.
* ''The Empire of Ice Cream'' is the title of a novelette and a short-story collection of the same name by American writer [[Jeffrey Ford]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?82317|title=Publication: The Empire of Ice Cream|website=www.isfdb.org|language=en-us|access-date=2017-10-17}}</ref>
*The character Amelia Davenport quotes a portion of the poem in the first episode of the television series ''[[Damnation (TV series)|Damnation]]''.

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
*Morse, Samuel French. "Wallace Stevens: The Poems of Our Climate – Harold Bloom's Vast Accumulation". ''[[The Wallace Stevens Journal]]''. Volume 1, Numbers 3 & 4 (Fall/Winter 1977)
*Stevens, Wallace. ''The Explicator''. Vol VII (November 1948), unpaged.
*Vendler, Helen (1984). ''Words Chosen Out of Desire''. [[University of Tennessee Press]].
*[http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides4/emperor.html#Top The Emperor of Ice Cream: Cummings Study Guide]

==External links==
{{wikisource|The Emperor of Ice-Cream}}
*[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/stevens/emperor.htm Explanations of the meaning of this poem] by Helen Vendler and others

{{Wallace Stevens}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emperor of Ice Cream}}
[[Category:1922 poems]]
[[Category:American poems]]
[[Category:Modernist poems]]
[[Category:Poems about death]]
[[Category:Poetry by Wallace Stevens]]
[[Category:Ice cream]]