The Emperor

The poetry of Wallace Stevens has been said to be in a class by itself. The sheer difficultly in comprehending the philosophical tones, when combined with his unusual flair toward elusive and often irrational complex use metaphors is enough to discourage the average reader from enjoying his work. After reading some of his best and now renowned work it becomes obvious to the critical thinking reader, that his work requires complete concentration, to fully understand his intricate stanzas and rhyme patterns that are his valiant attempts to avoid paraphrasing while losing himself and his readers in brilliant language, that are considered a school of poetry in themselves. Wallace Stevens is one the rare poets that any attempt to gain a better understanding of their work is best accompanied with an insight into the poets life and definition of the value or purpose of poetry.

Wallace Stevens was born in Reading Pennsylvania, in October 2, 1879. He attended Harvard University as an undergraduate from 1897 to 1900. Wallace planned to travel to Paris as a writer, but after working briefly as a reporter for the New York Herald Times, he decided to study law. Wallace graduated with a degree from New York Law School in 1903 and was admitted to the U.S. Bar in 1904. He practiced law in New York City until 1916.

Wallace worked as an attorney in several firms and in 1908 secured a position with the American Bonding Company, .He married Elsie Kachel Moll, a shop girl, from his hometown; their daughter, Holly, was born in 1924. She later edited her father's letters. The marriage was unhappy but stable. Elsie was fanatical in her housekeeping and Wallace idealized and rejected her presence. He didn't like visitors at home - he kept distance to people but gained also fame as a serious joker. On the other hand, Stevens spent time with avant-grade writers and artist around Walter Arensberg, his Harvard classmate and art collector. Influenced by imagism [see Ezra Pound] and French symbolism, Stevens wrote "Sunday Morning", his famous breakthrough poem. It starts with coffee and oranges in a sunny chair, but ends with images of another reality, death and universal chaos. Wallace Stevens moved to Connecticut in 1916, having found employment at the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., of which he became vice president in 1934. Wallace had began to establish an identity for himself outside the world of law and business, however, and his first book of poems, "Harmonium", published in 1923 at the age of forty- four, exhibited the influence of both the English Romantics and the French symbolists, an inclination to aesthetic philosophy, and a wholly original style and sensibility; exotic, whimsical, infused with the light and color of an Impressionist painting. Although it was very well received it only sold 100 copies. From one end of the book to the other there was not an idea that can vitally affect the mind, there is not a word that can arouse emotion. The volume is a glittering edifice of icicles. Brilliant as the moon, the book is equally dead, wrote Percy Hutchison in the New York Times [August 9, 1931]. Now this collection is regarded as one of the great works of American poetry. Harmonium included, "The Emperor of the Ice Cream", Le Monocle de Mon Oncle, The Man Whose Pharynx Was Bad, and Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. The poems are partly autobiographical, also referring to the failure of the author's marriage

Stevens believed that "all poetry is experimental poetry"(The Oxford Book) and that "poetry should be irrational."(The Oxford Book) Many of Stevens's poems contain the central theme of death and have been understood and viewed as speculations of his prerogatives in a godless universe, others have appeared to be and been interpretated as a metaphysical shoving match between the force of the imagination and the pressures of reality. Stevens personal favorite" The Emperor of Ice-cream" has resisted explication for many years and is thought by many to reek of sexuality and hedonism, that also best exemplifies his propensity towards philosophically irrational cryptic symbolism that makes many of his poems not only an intellectual challenge but also individual crafted works of art.

The first thing one must notice when beginning to critically analyze this poem, is Steven's distinct use of an unknown first person commanding narrator that issues orders such "call the roller of the big cigar" that almost seems to be speaking directly to the reader. The artificial intentional line breaks create an air of deliberate suspense while leaving the readers imagination free to assume, if only for a moment, the outrageous extremes of possibilities. Steven's use of nondescript characters gives this poem an eerie air of identification that also allows for a broad interpretation of its symbolism, based on the reader's individual views.

While many of Steven's critics praise his work and genius, most of the critical analyses of this poem appear to focus solely on the poems sexual incantations rather than it central theme of life and death. It is quite admittedly easy to lose some of the deeper meaning of this poem if the reader becomes preoccupied with the use of sexually implied metaphors such as "concupiscent curds"(line 3) "wenches"(line 4) and "horny"(line 13).

In the first stanza Steven's appears to be describing more of a party than a funeral, which in itself is part of his metaphorical philosophical message that many have deemed to Hedonistic in nature. I think his whole point through out the first several lines is that life is a party and is to be enjoyed. Hence his use of "concupiscent curds" as a metaphor for one must enjoy their life and embrace the things that give them pleasure in order to give their life value and meaning. The seventh line of "The Emperor of Ice-cream" is the focal point of the first stanza and one the most highly analyzed and academically debated lines of the entire poem "Let be be the finale of seem", here again we see his use of cryptic metaphors. The message is in this line is actually quite clear, despite its great debate all Steven's is trying to tell us is that death is our final act and to let death be death, all things come to an end and you cannot live with out dying. This line also supports the previous metaphor that life is to be lived and no matter what you do death will come, so savor life and its pleasures. Both metaphors are directly related to his metaphoric use of ice cream. To grasp this concept one must think of what