Introduction of the Poem:
“The Emperor of Ice-Cream” is a brief yet striking poem written by Wallace Stevens. Despite its short length, it is quite challenging to grasp because it contains complex and lofty language. The first stanza has a humorous tone, while the second stanza concludes the poem with the sorrowful death of a woman. Nevertheless, the theme of the poem remains captivating. Stevens skillfully creates a contrast by blending both comic and tragic elements. Even literary critics struggle to interpret the poem’s true meaning, as it is not easy to decipher. The poem’s title itself is appealing, yet also puzzling, and many readers cannot figure out what “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” really signifies.”
Summary of the Poem:
At the start of the poem, the speaker instructs a strong man to summon the maker of large cigars and tells him to whip the curds in cups in the kitchen. These lines hint at a sexual undertone as well. Next, the readers see young girls dressed in their usual clothes, happily wasting time. Following this, there is an image of boys carrying flowers wrapped in old newspapers. The first stanza closes with the line: “The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.” Overall, the tone here is quite humorous.
The second stanza focuses on the death of a poor woman, creating a deeply tragic atmosphere throughout. Someone is told to fetch a sheet from the wardrobe—a sheet that the woman herself had once decorated with fine embroidery. This sheet is used to cover her body. At this point, it becomes clear to the reader that the woman is lying dead in the room. This realization is reinforced by describing her as ‘cold’ and ‘dumb,’ and by mentioning that her feet have become hard and stiff like horn. The stanza ends on the same somber note as before, repeating the line: “The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.” In this poem, ice cream symbolizes both change and permanence.
The poem suggests that reality includes both the humorous and the sorrowful sides of human existence. On one hand, the emperor of ice-cream represents command and liveliness; on the other, the presence of the dead woman reflects grief, which stands in contrast. Together, happiness and sadness are inseparable elements of life.
Although the poet has written this poem with a comic touch, he sets it against a backdrop of tragedy. The poem’s inspiration is a sorrowful event — the death of a woman. However, the poet avoids excessive sentimentality, instead presenting death and change as ordinary parts of human existence. He even seems to lean toward highlighting the comic aspect; for instance, the girls are carefree in their enjoyment, and the boys bring flowers wrapped in old newspapers. The poet’s refrain, “the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream,” which appears at the end of both stanzas, reinforces this idea.
It is true that the style of the poet is truly unique because it consists of both concrete and interesting imagery which can be appreciated by understanding the meaning of the poem clearly. Such fine imagery is presented through the merry – makings of the girls as well as by the boys who bring flowers for the dead woman in old newspapers. In short, this short poem is regarded a fine composition with difficult meaning to understand.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction of the Poem:
Wallace Stevens’ poem “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” is highly symbolic, but its symbols are difficult to interpret. This makes the poem ambiguous and leads to strong disagreements among critics. The central symbol is the ice cream itself. When the President of the Ice Cream Manufacturers Association once asked Stevens what he meant by calling it the “Emperor of Ice-Cream,” Stevens humorously replied that he used it because his daughter liked ice cream. Since the poet never gave a serious explanation, scholars have developed various interpretations of the poem, resulting in multiple and often conflicting readings.
Principle of Strong Contrast:
The poem unfolds through sharp contrasts in words, phrases, and images. For instance, “The Emperor” is set against something as trivial as “ice cream,” creating a mock-heroic tone by juxtaposing the grand with the mundane. The poem describes the old woman’s kitchen, while her dead body lies in the adjacent bedroom — the warmth and activity of the kitchen contrast with the stillness of death. A strong, cigar-smoking man is summoned to arrange the funeral of a frail old woman. Young girls come dressed casually, without the need for formal mourning clothes; boys bring flowers wrapped in old newspapers, showing there is no emphasis on external displays of grief. Even amid this sorrow, something edible is prepared in cups for those who will return hungry from the funeral.
The poem’s attention then shifts to the dead woman’s poverty: her bedroom lacks proper furniture, the dresser has broken glass knobs, and there is only a single embroidered sheet from her younger days, now used to cover her body. The sheet is too short; when it covers her face, her rough, calloused feet remain exposed. Everywhere, the poem sets up striking contrasts: the worn feet against the broken dresser knobs; the embroidered sheet, once meant for celebration, now serving to cover a corpse. These opposites reveal deep tensions between life and death, youth and age, wealth and poverty, the fleeting and the eternal.
The first stanza shows the lively bustle of the kitchen, captured in the image of “whipping concupiscent curds in kitchen cups.” In contrast, the second stanza centers on the quiet stillness of the bedroom, where the poor, old woman’s body rests — symbolized by her broken dresser and the small sheet that can barely cover her. While she is old and dead, the boys and girls outside are young and alive, flirting and carefree. Her body is cold, yet the smoke of the cigar is warm. The cigar maker must be wealthy, while the dead woman was destitute. The fresh flowers the boys bring are wrapped in old newspapers. The finely embroidered sheet must cover a body made unattractive by age and hard work, as seen in her horny feet.
An Ambiguous Poem:
Certainly it is an ambiguous poem. According to William York Tindall, “The Emperor of Ice Cream” owes its effect to unions of the grotesque and the calm, seeming and being, compassion and fun. However, grotesque, death and the wake are part of life. The image of ice – cream concentrates these meanings. At once cold and agreeable, ordinary and festive, it is a symbol of life and death. Imperative mood and the finality of the rhymed couplets add as much to this strange composition as the commonplace details…… The interaction of such elements, as we have noticed, is one of Stevens’ constant means. “Some scholars take a different view and discover sexual interpretation of the poem. According to them, ‘roller of big cigars’ and ‘muscular one’, point out demand for a lustful customer. Girls should be allowed to walk in their provoking dress to attract customers. Boys bring flowers in last month’s papers and forget that these girls offer their love for money for the kitchens of these girls remain cold without their earning. One who brings money becomes emperor but very soon his authority melts like ice – cream and he is dethroned. These girls are attractive only outwardly otherwise their feet are horny and household furniture almost broken. They have no warmth of love but become cold and dumb during copulation and wish for darkness. They do it all only for money that is the only emperor in the world. R. P. Blackmur, commenting on the two couplets observes, “The less obvious sense of the couplets is more difficult to set down because, in all its difference, it rises out of the first sense, and while contradicting and supplanting, yet guarantees it. The connotations is perhaps, that ice cream and what it represents is the only power heeded, not the only power there is to heed. The irony recoils on itself; what seems shall finally be; the lamp shall affix its beam. The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream. The king is dead; long live the king.”
