Wallace Stevens: The Emperor of Ice-Cream

The Emperor Of Ice-Cream

By Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), Modernist

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal.
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. 

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(I picked this poem because of the title) 

After the first read, it seems that the first stanza is about pleasure while the second stanza is about grief. Both stanzas end with the statement that the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream, which is probably some reminder of transcendence, or maybe Stevens just really liked ice-cream. Fun fact: while ice cream and similar treats date back to the Persian empire, it's popularity in Western culture began to rapidly grow around the mid to late 19th century, right when Stevens was a child. Regardless, this emperor of ice-cream seems to be the only guy who matters in any situation from casual courtship to gaunt death. This approach is modernist because Stevens takes unconventional approaches to these situations, and yet the ideas in the poem are much less loosey goosey than other loosier goosier types of poetry. Instead, the poem takes a definitively modernist stance by attempting to nail down it's main idea of transcendence regardless of situation. This style of being unique and well defined is classic modernism haha, categorizing this poem along with just about every other poem Stevens wrote as a modernist poem. 

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