Wallace Steven's "The Emperor of Ice-cream"

Wallace Stevens's poems showcase an intellectual dimension not meant for the common masses. It is infused with poetic logic rather than rational logic. Stevens' poems are quite often packed with emblematical images and are not easy to comprehend or paraphrase. The profuse figurative statements are brought into play to convey subtle ideas. The choice of words are quite often incomprehensible as in the" Emperor of Ice-cream. Stevens was of the opinion that it is "not able to give words a single rational meaning." The poet gave more significance to technique than sense refusing to divorce meaning from technique. He is a Romantic poet in a different sense:" Imagination merely changes the appearance of this world." He was of the view that disorder and chaos in the world are rendered order and pattern through imagination. There is no realm beyond this world. His theory of poetry is the theory of life. Stevens considered poetry as a mode of thinking. According to him, reality was what the imagination constructed as a response to desire. For him imagination was equivalent to aspiration. He defines poetry as 'a holiday in reality."

The Emperor of Ice-cream" was first published in 1922 in the collection Harmonium. In "The Emperor of Ice-cream", ice-cream is a metaphor for the ephemeral and alluring pleasures of the senses. The rich businessman who seeks pleasures is the emperor of our age. It points to the commodification of culture. It is he who controls the market and dictates policies-the only emperor- the only governing principle in the universe. Ice-cream is an illusion created out of reality. The title is reminiscent of Hamlet's words: "Your only emperor is the emperor of words." It is an indictment on the superficiality and absolute materialism of Americans. The indifference to poverty and art is brought out in the second stanza. For this he utilizes the word 'ice-cream' as a sign of transience and a source of physical fulfillment.

The first stanza enumerates a number of images that feed sensual satisfaction. The sentences are in the imperative like commands from an emperor. The 'muscular one' is called for, as might is right in the modern context. The 'Cigar' has phallic connotations and evokes gender issues. The 'muscular' one is called for before 'dawdling wenches" and women who are 'dumb' and with 'horny feet'. Flowers are juxtaposed with last month's newspapers-something fresh is contrasted with something stale. Like Stevens' other poems, the poem is like an impressionistic painting in that there is no transparency-there is realistic presentation of things without any contradiction. Critics have commented on the vulgar imagery that allude to "concupiscent curds", dawdling wenches .etc.

The second stanza presents the funeral of a poor woman. The dresser lacks three glass knobs that is a symbol of luxury. The sheet on which she embroidered fantails on the sheet now only serve as her shroud. Her protruding "horny-hard" feet foregrounds the harsh realities of life. It is commanded to "cover her face" with callous disregard, as though the poor have no identity. The meaning of life is intricately attached to sensual pleasure and bodily gratification. What people perceive are the concupiscent pleasures and what people should embrace is reality, namely, Death. The poet echoes a similar thought in his poem "Sunday Morning", when he writes:" Death is the mother of beauty." All superficial satisfactions must yield to the ultimate actuality, Death. The verses "Let the lamp affix its beam" implies let light show itself. It may also signify that life will continue to attach importance to the festive moods despite gruesome realities like poverty and death.