Samantha BordadorOctober 18, 2014E BlockAP English LiteratureAnalytical Essay (Poetry Project)

The Emperor of Ice-Cream by Wallace Stevens is an elliptical poem about the celebratory preparations of a womans wake. As an elliptical poem, the word elliptical is being used as to describe a way of speaking that cuts out extra, unnecessary language. Elliptical poems do not blatantly show the meaning of the poem; they are obscure and hard to interpret. In the poem, Stevens seems to think that the practices of a wake and a funeral are mundane and unnecessary. The ceremonies of preparations for the afterlife and the opportunities to mourn may be things that anger him, which may have been what made him write the poem. He wants people to celebrate life instead of mourning the death of one person, because that person is no longer relevant to the current moment. Instead of just a simple preparation for a wake, the poem stresses the value of carpe diem and argues against the value of appearances by its form and style, word choice and phrasing, symbols and metaphors, and descriptions of people and things.In a poem that insists upon informality and against the value of appearances, one should not expect the poem to keep up any kind of dominant form, meter, or sound pattern. Instead, Stevens neatly designs the form to fit the meaning of the poem. It is free verse, and the only uniformities are the eight-line stanzas and the rhyming couplet at the end of each stanza. The poem acknowledges the importance of form overall, but the poem works towards the idea that details do not really matter. The rhyming couplets at the end of each stanza indicate irony in terms of form. By placing the overall message in a formal way, Stevens reinforces the idea of embracing the reality of each moment and relaxing even in the most formal of times. Similarly, Stevens plays around with language in the first stanza, which contains assonance in Line 2 and alliteration in Line 3. Using sound techniques in language usually add a little bit of excitement and enjoyment in the moments the words are said aloud. The techniques also add to the suggestion of enjoying the little moments in life. Stevens chooses words that, at first glance just add to the confusion, but actually reinforce the message of the poem. In the first stanza, words such as muscular, concupiscent, wenches, and dawdle suggest sensuality and pleasure. Describing ice cream as concupiscent means that it is desirable in a lustful way yet indicates that it is a symbol of the delightfulness of life. Dawdle means to move slowly an idly, and in Line 4, the action symbolizes leisure. The whole first stanza is indicative of pleasure, leisure, and enjoyment. The second stanza, however, talks about death, frailty, and poverty. Lines 9 and 10 describe an old dresser that was probably bought at a very cheap price. The sheet in Lines 10 and 11 was embroidered by the dead woman, which can lead the audience to assume that she was of the old, grandmotherly type. Line 13 describes the womans feet as horny, suggesting that she probably had a laborious life and was probably impoverished. Line 15, let the lamp affix its beam, seems to say that the attention must be on the here and the now; attend to life. Emperor of ice-cream is the most out of place set of words in the entire poem. An emperor is the supreme ruler of an empire; he is a person of great importance. Since the only emperor is that of ice cream, Stevens means that the little ephemeral things in life are more important than strict rule and uniformity. Line 7, let be be finale of seem, can be interpreted as to let things be how they are and dont look too much further. Let what actually is become the end of what seems to be. The attendees will not pretend to mourn, but celebrate life. As for the deceased, even if the sheet is too short to cover her feet, who cares? Just let her be, because she is now just a cold corpse. It is a reminder that life is too short to worry about something else. Take the opportunity to enjoy it while it lastsLikewise, the way people and things are described in the poem emphasizes and connects the idea of taking everything in stride and going about life with comfort and enjoyment. The wenches, which could mean female servants or prostitutes, attend the wake in their usual, casual clothes. This is the first time the speaker mentions anything about appearance. Instead of wearing formal mourning clothes, the speaker encourages the attendees to wear what they are most comfortable in. Line 6 continues to speak against formality by letting the boys bring flowers in last months newspapers, meaning that a bouquet in crisp plastic with bows or arranged in wreaths or other shapes does nothing for simplicity and humbleness. The second stanza indicates the shift from a kitchen and a party to a bedroom and a dead woman; in other words, the shift from life to death. Line 14 describes the womans corpse as cold, which connects to ice cream. If, throughout the whole poem, the audience is confused, then this word should be the one to clear some things up. If cold death is related to ice cream, and ice cream is related to the delightfulness of life, then it means that enjoying life in small pleasures such as ice cream will bring about a happier death. According to Stevens, the overlying theme of life is like ice cream, short and sweet at first, melts and loses its attractive qualities. Therefore, everyone should live life by the second and enjoy what one is still capable of enjoying before the opportunity passes.The whole purpose of a wake is to comfort the friends and family of the deceased. It is also a celebration of life. At first glance, the poem is just a poem about a party, a wake, the death of a possibly impoverished woman. But the insertion of the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream stops every reader and prompts another look over the words. And suddenly, every word seems to have another meaning, something that makes the words and ultimately the entire poem go deeper than mere preparations. As the emperor of ice-cream, the poem is a prompt for the celebration of life and every moment within it.