Elizabeth Kelly

3/2/98

Paper Four

"The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream," Wallace Steven's writes in his poem "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" (8). This line proclaiming the ice-cream maker as important as an emperor is used metaphorically to describe the selfishness of human nature. One the surface, the poem is about the wake of a poor, old woman. However, if the metaphors and symbols of the poem are examined, the poem's deeper message becomes apparent. The attenders of the wake, who represent human nature, are uninterested in the dead woman; they are only concerned with their own wants - eating ice-cream. Therefore, the "emperor of ice-cream" is truly the mourners' emperor, for the ice-cream maker represents the power of human selfishness, a power present in all humans.

Stevens creates nondescript characters, other than in their plainness, for "Emperor," thus making them easy to identify with as general and typical people, who therefore exhibit typical human nature. Furthering their regularity, the dead woman and her mourners are from a fairly low social status. Stevens writes, "Let the wenches dawdle in such dress/ As they are used to wear, and let the boys/ Bring flowers in last month's newspapers" (4-6). The girls' everyday dresses and the boys' flowers wrapped in old newspapers are testaments to their plainness as well as their lack of wealth. Stevens says the dead woman has a "dresser of deal,/ Lacking the three glass knobs" (9-10). Her cheap dresser missing three of its knobs is another example of the near poverty and simplicity of the woman and her mourners. Stephen's characters are simple and normal people; thus, their actions represent the actions and urges of simple and normal human nature.

The mourners attending the wake are more interested in themselves than the woman whom they are honoring. Even though "Emperor" describes a wake, the first stanza describes the attenders of the wake, and the dead woman is not even mentioned until the last stanza. This late mention serves as a commentary to the unimportance of the dead woman to the mourners and, thus, the importance they place in themselves. The poem opens with a list of attenders, starting with the man churning the ice-cream. Stevens writes, "Call the roller of big cigars,/ The muscular one, and bid him whip" (1-2). The reason for the wake, the dead woman, is not as important to the attenders as ice-cream, as revealed by the order in which the ice-cream man, the attenders, and the dead woman appear in the poem. In addition, the line "The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream" further backs the ice-cream man's importance by making him an emperor. The dead woman is only described as cold and dumb (14). The woman is rather unpleasant now; because she is unpleasant, she represents one's duties, which are oftentimes quite unpleasant. The ice-cream tastes wonderful; therefore, it represents one's selfish desires, which tend to be placed above duty. Therefore, the attenders, who represent human nature, are only concerned with their own pleasures and selfish wants, even when they should be focused on another person or duty.

In her death, the woman is revealed in a way in which she would not approve. She no longer has any control over the way her friends and neighbors view her. Stephens writes, "If her horny feet protrude, they come/ To show how cold she is, and dumb (13-14). Her horny feet, which expose her old age and hard life, represent her lost dignity, and because she is now "cold, and dumb," she cannot hide her indignities nor can she defend them. The line, "Let be be finale of seem"appears to be out of place in the first stanza, but the line points to the finality of the woman's death. Stephens is saying that the woman must and has no choice but to"let be" her death, the finale, that has ruined the way she seemed to her friends and neighbors. Then, at the wake, a mourner takes "that sheet/ On which she embroidered fantails once/ And spread it so as to cover her face" (10-12). The fact that she spent time to embroider fantails on her sheets, which were perhaps her nicest sheets, evokes sympathy, for even though she was poor, she still attempted to have some nice, beautiful items in her home. Sadly and ironically, she probably never found a time to use the sheet until now at a time she cannot appreciate it.

Steven's ends "Emperor" with the recurring line, "The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream," as a reminder that even though the last stanza mostly concerns the dead woman, the person of real importance is still the "emperor of ice-cream" (16). The description of the dead woman and her pitiful belongings evokes sympathy, and for a moment, the dead woman seems to have been cared for by her friends and neighbors. The line before the last says, "Let the lamp affix its beam"(15). This image of the mourners directing the light of the lamp probably onto the dead woman gives the impression that they find the dead woman somewhat interesting and important. However, these impressions love and interest are quickly revoked when reminded that "the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream." In other words, personal pleasure is far more important than duty.

"The Emperor of Ice-Cream" begins and ends with the ice-cream maker, thus establishing him as the most important piece of the poem. The ice cream maker is the only emperor; he is the only person, representing human desire, that can truly rule one's life. This power makes "the only emperor...the emperor of ice-cream."

Stevens, Wallace. "The Emperor of Ice-Cream." Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Fourth Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martin's, 1996.