The Emperor of Ice Cream
Encyclopedia
"The Emperor of Ice-Cream" is a celebrated poem from Wallace Stevens
' first collection of poetry, Harmonium
. It was first published in 1922, so it is in the public domain. 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."
The implication Stevens seems to make about these practices are that they are mundane petty ceremonies, rather than preparations for an afterlife. He also notes the gravity and finality of death, suggesting that the "finale of be(ing)" should also be considered the finale of "seem(ing)". Yet there is sufficient ambiguity in aspects of the poem to leave gaps on Stevens' atheism. The "roller of big cigars" and the titular 'Emperor of Ice-Cream' may, for instance, refer to a god, albeit a god of ephemeral things.
Helen Vendler
's Wallace Stevens: Words Chosen Out of Desire includes a remarkable prose laying-out of the poem, which discloses it as a reflection on the forced choice between the gross physicality of death and the animal greed of life. Or maybe Kenneth Lincoln is right to describe it as a "little nonsense ditty". Stevens wrote after all that "a poem must resist the intelligence / Almost successfully". Not that Stevens understood his craft as a poetic fan dance, the reader a passive observer. He wrote,
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
' first collection of poetry, Harmonium
Harmonium (poetry collection)
Harmonium is a book of poetry by U.S. poet Wallace Stevens. His first book, it was published in 1923 by Knopf in an edition of 1500 copies. He was in middle age at that time, forty-four years old. The collection comprises 85 poems, ranging in length from just a few lines to several hundred...
. It was first published in 1922, so it is in the public domain. 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."
Interpretation
The Emperor of Ice-Cream is set after the death of an unnamed woman, whose body lies in state as family and friends complete actions associated with burial and funerals. A man is summoned to prepare ice-cream for the wake, while "wenches" - presumably female relatives and friends - appear wearing their usual funeral attire. A sheet once embroidered by the dead woman is removed from a dresser of deal, a cheap timber, highlighting her rather ordinary status. The sheet is used to cover the dead woman but does not cover her feet, which serve as a reminder of her mortality and deathly silence.The implication Stevens seems to make about these practices are that they are mundane petty ceremonies, rather than preparations for an afterlife. He also notes the gravity and finality of death, suggesting that the "finale of be(ing)" should also be considered the finale of "seem(ing)". Yet there is sufficient ambiguity in aspects of the poem to leave gaps on Stevens' atheism. The "roller of big cigars" and the titular 'Emperor of Ice-Cream' may, for instance, refer to a god, albeit a god of ephemeral things.
Helen Vendler
Helen Vendler
Helen Hennessy Vendler is a leading American critic of poetry.-Life and career:Vendler has written books on Emily Dickinson, W. B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, John Keats, and Seamus Heaney. She has been a professor of English at Harvard University since 1984; between 1981 and 1984 she taught...
's Wallace Stevens: Words Chosen Out of Desire includes a remarkable prose laying-out of the poem, which discloses it as a reflection on the forced choice between the gross physicality of death and the animal greed of life. Or maybe Kenneth Lincoln is right to describe it as a "little nonsense ditty". Stevens wrote after all that "a poem must resist the intelligence / Almost successfully". Not that Stevens understood his craft as a poetic fan dance, the reader a passive observer. He wrote,
...things that have their origin in the imagination or in the emotions very often take on a form that is ambiguous or uncertain. It is not possible to attach a single, rational meaning to such things without destroying the imaginative or emotional ambiguity or uncertainty that is inherent in them and that is why poets do not like to explain. That the meanings given by others are sometimes meanings not intended by the poet or that were never present in his mind does not impair them as meanings.Drawing an analogy with Mahler's Fifth Symphony, Stevens continues, "The score with its markings contains any meaning that imaginative and sensitive listeners find in it. It takes very little to experience the variety in everything. The poet, the musician, both have explicit meanings but they express them in the forms these take and not in explanation."
In popular culture
- Composer Roger ReynoldsRoger ReynoldsRoger Reynolds is an American composer born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. He is a professor at the University of California at San Diego. He received an undergraduate degree in engineering physics from the University of Michigan where he later studied composition with Ross Lee Finney...
wrote an avant garde, mixed-media dramatization of the poem for 8 vocal soloists, piano, percussion, and double bass in 1961-62. - In 1985, Composer Gary KuleshaGary KuleshaGary Kulesha is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator. Since 1995, he has been Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Canadian Opera Company . He was awarded the National Arts Centre...
published a revision of his clarinet quartet named after the poem. - "Misha Chellam of the acoustic pop group Speechwriters LLCSpeechwriters LLCSpeechwriters LLC is an American acoustic pop group from Claremont, California. They began as a two-man coffeehouse act but have expanded to bigger and better venues and a respectable following...
wrote a song entitled "The Emperor of Ice Cream" while in his high school folk-pop group "Sid and Me". - Ken NordineKen NordineKen Nordine is an American voiceover and recording artist best known for his series of Word Jazz albums. His deep, resonant voice has also been featured in many commercial advertisements and movie trailers. One critic wrote that "you may not know Ken Nordine by name or face, but you'll almost...
, 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 GiantsThey Might Be GiantsThey Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
used the phrase "finale of seem" in their 1988 song, Pencil Rain. - Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
made several allusions to this poem in his novels Salem's Lot and InsomniaInsomniaInsomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
and his collection of short stories Just After SunsetJust After SunsetJust After Sunset is the fifth collection of short stories by Stephen King. It was released in hardcover by Scribner on November 11, 2008, and features a holographic dust jacket. On February 6, 2008, the author's official website revealed the title of the collection to be Just Past Sunset. About a...
in the short story "Harvey's Dream", as well as his television miniseries, Kingdom HospitalKingdom HospitalKingdom Hospital is a thirteen-episode television miniseries based on Lars von Trier's The Kingdom , which was developed by horror writer Stephen King in 2004 for American television...
. - The poem was quoted in the film PathologyPathology (film)Pathology is a 2008 thriller horror film directed by Marc Schölermann and written by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the writers of Crank. The cast was announced on April 4, 2007 and filming started in May 2007...
. - Dean KoontzDean KoontzDean Ray Koontz is a prolific American author best known for his novels which could be described broadly as suspense thrillers. He also frequently incorporates elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, and satire. A number of his books have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, with...
referenced this poem in his book The Good GuyThe Good GuyThe Good Guy is a thriller novel by American author Dean Koontz, which was released on May 29, 2007.- Summary :Timothy Carrier is an unassuming stonemason who, while having a beer at his regular bar, is accidentally mistaken for a hitman by a stranger who hands him an envelope containing $10,000...
. - A soap made by the cosmetics company Lush is named 'The Emperor of Icecream' after this poem.
- The song The King of Cream by The Love Kills TheoryThe Love Kills TheoryThe Love Kills Theory is an alternative rock band based in New York City. They were formed in 2006 by Cevin Soling, and in January 2007 they released their debut album Happy Suicide, Jim!, a thirteen track CD with philosophical and anti-consumerist themes...
is an homage to this poem. - The 1965 novel The Emperor of Ice-Cream by Brian MooreBrian Moore (novelist)Brian Moore was a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter who emigrated to Canada and later lived in the United States. He was acclaimed for the descriptions in his novels of life in Northern Ireland after the Second World War, in particular his explorations of the inter-communal divisions of The...
is an Irish coming-of-age novel. - An Irish band called itself Emperor of Ice Cream, and released 2 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, the hero of Robert B. ParkerRobert B. ParkerRobert Brown Parker was an American crime writer. His most famous works were the novels about the private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the late 1980s; a series of TV movies based on the character were also...
's novel School DaysSchool Daysis a Japanese adult visual novel developed by 0verflow and published by Stack, and was originally released for the PC on April 28, 2005. It was subsequently released as a DVD TV game by Stack, followed by an all-ages port titled School Days L×H published by Interchannel for the PlayStation 2, in...
quotes from the poem. - Author Alan Moore was a member in a band named "Emperors of Ice Cream" which recorded two songs "March of the Sinister Ducks" and "Old Gangsters Never Die".