The Emperor of Ice-Cream by Wallace Stevens

It's the poem's trickiest line. "Be" refers to reality — what truly exists. "Seem" points to appearance, how we embellish things. Stevens argues that reality should take precedence over its idealized version. We need to stop pretending death is anything other than what it is, and we should also stop pretending life is more remarkable than ice cream and calloused feet.

Stevens avoids naming him directly, which is intentional. The emperor of ice-cream symbolizes life itself — representing pleasure, desire, and the physical present. By labeling him an emperor, Stevens grants him the utmost authority. The irony lies in the fact that this supreme ruler is as simple and ephemeral as melting ice cream.

Yes, but it's also about life. A woman has passed away, and the poem unfolds at her wake. Stevens contrasts the ice-cream-making in the kitchen with the corpse in the bedroom to show that life and death coexist. He suggests that life — messy, sensory, and unglamorous — is the reality that prevails.

A wake provides an ideal backdrop for Stevens's argument since it's a time when people often feel the urge to romanticize and embellish reality. By focusing on the ice cream, the old newspapers, the calloused feet, and the cheap dresser, Stevens removes that sentimentality and compels us to confront the raw truth of our surroundings.

"Concupiscent" describes a state of intense desire or lust. "Curds" in this context points to the thick, creamy mixture that's being whipped into ice cream. The phrase is intentionally exaggerated—Stevens is playing with language to make the seemingly ordinary act of making ice cream sound almost scandalous. This choice also highlights that themes of desire and appetite are key to understanding the poem's message.

Almost every sentence is a command: "Call," "bid," "let," "take," "spread." This creates a sense of urgency and straightforwardness in the poem. It also portrays the speaker as someone who bypasses formalities, directing people on what to do—and what not to do, which is to pretend.

"Deal" refers to a type of inexpensive, plain wood like pine or fir. A dresser made from deal represents affordable furniture, typical for someone with limited means. The fact that it lacks three glass knobs paints a picture of a humble, lived-in existence. Stevens employs this detail to keep the poem rooted in a simple, unadorned reality.

Stevens mentioned that it holds all his beliefs about life and poetry. It's a mix of compression, strangeness, humor, and seriousness. The poem makes a bold philosophical statement—favoring reality over illusion—without turning into a lecture. For Stevens, who dedicated his life to pondering the tension between imagination and reality, this poem achieved exactly what he aimed for.