"The Emperor of Ice-Cream" by Wallace Stevens (poetry)

[PoetryETrain]

Thank you, this has been added to our playlists here and on facebook

[klpklp1971]

"The roller of big cigars" is the guy who prepares the body for burial; this person must be muscular, b/c they're handling and moving heavy, dead bodies all the time. The body is wrapped in a sheet, like a big cigar. Her "horny feet protrude", though.

"The Emperor of Ice-cream" is the "Emperor of Transience"; ice-cream melts. We die. All things are change. Nothing, and nobody, remains....

[SweetSweetWaldo]

Let be be finale of seem let the lamp affix its beam the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream

[luthiersunite]

Please do The Anecdote of The Jar, you have been illuminating great poetry for me for many many months now.

[mthom]

The best reading of this poem Ive heard is by Ron Mclarty on the audiobook of Salems Lot.

[Harrygton]

Upon da face of death we see

da banality of it all...

all succumb to pleasure's embrace...

la petit morte conquers all in all

[SpokenVerse]

@Harrygton "la petite mort" means female orgasm, in case anybody reading this didn't know

[Harrygton]

@SpokenVerse

Actually, it means Orgasm... more appropriately in men... it literally means the "little death"! I have since modified and added one more line to this, which was tacit before:

Upon da face of death we see

da banality of it all...

Yet all succumb to pleasure's bid

la petit morte conquers all in all

Life moves on...

A friend sent me your video after I had told him about my mother's passing last night at the end of a long illness that had made her bones stick out... thanks!

[crandallpatterson]

The two keys to the poem are

1. Let be be finale of seem = let reality trump perception

2. The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream = The only thing that should rule are those transient joys that we mus'nt miss or take for granted.

[mnolanporter]

great voice. love it.

[isildur241]

Yes, I've never seen this analyis either, and though I won't say that I disagree (interpretation is up to the reader, after all) I do read it differently, as a poem about how people should live their lives before they die, the focus not being on the "Emperor" (the Emperor not being a tangible human character), but on the woman, often considered a prostitute. And now I will end that long, run-on sentance.

[afronutz]

That went right over my head

[robshred66]

Isn't it pronounced "con'KYOOpiscent? or is that another pronunciation I'm not aware of?

[ynwa113]

@robshred66 That's how it's typically pronounced, I've never heard otherwise until now.

@SpokenVerse Thanks for posting this... I've never seen your particular analysis before, but that's precisely why this poem is so amazing.

[SpokenVerse]

Ideally, "cup" should sound as it does in "cupid" which is from the same root: a standard British voice would not make a "Y" sound. But let us not be pedantic, it all depends on the taste and fancy of the pronouncer, as Sam Weller might have said to the Judge.

[1027Beansie]

Please do tell me who is speaking -- this is such an extraordinary poem, and I haven't any idea who is reading it, though he does so with such a proper admixture of gravitas and sensual longing....

[SpokenVerse]

I read all the poems in this channel. Thank you for your kind words.

[Mangina9000]

part of my life

[vynterbone]

Beautiful.

[puppyhead10]

i heard about this in stephen kings desperation

[kyrastube]

@puppyhead10 it is in salems lot as well. :)

[Backbeat70]

Are you Mr. Kipling's friend?

[SpokenVerse]

You must mean James Hayter, British actor famous for his plummy voice. I'm flattered, but I'm not him.

[polymath7]

He almost sounds like Stevens, doesn't he?

[SpokenVerse]

Thank you.  I try to read as I think the poet intended with similar tempo and emphasis to his other readings.

[MasimbaMusodza]

I think most of our generation first heard of it through the work of Stephen King. Since then, I have become a fan of Stevens.

[Rockerdell]

I agree, 'The first time I heard this poem was in King's novel "'Salem's Lot".

[blazehok]

Ice cream melts. It is a temporary state, subject to disintegration-just as life is.

[CA0ZA0]

wonderful, but i have always read this poem with a quicker tempo... that's just me though

[2ndOfficerCHL]

I think the reader is trying to imitate Stevens' voice. In his recordings, Stevens always read very slowly and deliberately.

[Ahavati1]

"Let be be finale of seem" is a haunting yet reassuring line reminding us that nothing is as it seems now. Rather than speculate or accept, allow the finale of time to mold what is from what seems.

The Emperor of Ice-Cream rules over our birth, as well as our childhood, until death. He really is the only Emperor.

[brychar66]

let be (abandon) be (being) finale of seem (last part of appearance) = Being is Seeming (all is appearance/Maya)let it all go. The lady has abandoned appearance & seeming & gone into eternity. ......perhaps :)

[SpokenVerse]

I think you're essentially right, but that it is the poet who is abandoning seeming and accepting being.

Usually I don't contribute much in the way of analysis, because most poems are over-analysed anyway. I don't believe that poets bury hidden meanings which are only accessible to intellectuals. Poems usually refer to matters of personal significance: the facts can be lost but the emotions prevail.

I elaborated my comments on this poem which which I have known for a long time.

[brychar66]

I agree about analysis. But with a poet as fascinating & verbally electrifying as Stevens one can't help wondering what he 'really' meant :) Your voice is great and, for me, would be even better if you allowed more feeling (expression not drama)- but then I am rather greedy for perfection as Wallace might have said!

[ramenuet]

The first Wallace Stevens poem I learned. I love it.