An event marked by sex and celebration, the wake in "The Ice Cream Emperor" by Wallace Stevens is inevitably weird. Although one might expect an air of sobriety, importance, or - at the very least - reflection to characterize a discussion of death, the language and content of the poem are instead imbued with an air of almost absurd pomp. An anonymous speaker acts as master of ceremonies, encouraging mourners to adopt behaviors more appropriate for a party than a funeral, while simultaneously scorning the lifeless corpse for the same sexual revelries. The poem is further obscured by the strange refrain: "The only emperor is the emperor of ice." Although many parts of Wallace's verse seem more concerned with confusing meaning than creating it, there is hidden meaning beneath every line. Using contrasting sexual imagery to create a mockery of conventional mourning practices, Stevens describes a funeral that embraces life instead of lamenting death, and then exposes the hypocrisy that arises from humanity's obsession with mortality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The first stanza of the poem describes a strangely exuberant scene of mourning that seems more like a vigorous celebration than a funeral wake. From the outset, the speaker makes two demands which testify to the strangely convivial nature of the meeting; he demands that someone “call the roll of large cigars” and “order him to whip/into kitchen cups of concupiscent curd.” In the Western world, cigars are generally seen as symbols of celebration: revelers light them upon the birth of a baby or following a lucrative business deal; they are not often associated with death and mourning. The preparation of “concupiscent curd” is also in contradiction with the content of the event. Since "concupiscent" means something that arouses ardent or sexual desire, the creams prepared are infused with lust, essentially an aphrodisiac; apparently the pursuit of sexual pleasure will not be delayed while the corpse is prepared for burial. The lasciviousness and color of the creamy dishes of the “muscular” can also be a subtle allusion to certain intimate fluids – a sexual vision supported by the sweet phallic imagery of the “big cigars”. Reinforcing the feeling of jovial mirth, the assonance of the “i” in “bid him whip” and the alliteration of the “c” in “kitchen cups concupiscent curd” both lend a pleasing rhythmic softness to the poem. The orders to boys and girls in the first stanza also undermine the expected sobriety of the funeral by encouraging heated sexual interactions. The speaker says, “Let the girls stroll about in such clothes as they are accustomed to wear.” By telling women to maintain their normal clothing instead of donning the appropriately serious black clothing usually required for such an event, the speaker flouts the standard of funeral reverence. However, the odd phrasing of "dress / As they are wont to wear" and the emphasis placed on this line by the poem's sole use of rigid iambic pentameter indicate a more active mockery of the wake. Stevens's wording "are accustomed to carry" is grammatically incorrect: it should read: "used to carry." And his choice of diction ("are accustomed to" versus other words and phrases such as "often", "usually" or "habit") is equally curious. ("Wont", because it respects the current meter and syntax whilecreating a nice alliteration with "wear", would be a wonderfully appropriate word.) The secondary meaning of another particular word choice, "wenchs" (meaning lewd women or prostitutes), may explain Wallace's description of clothing for women. Considered in the context of prostitutes or loose women, rather than maids or maids, "dressing / as they are wont to wear" highlights an admittedly pejorative conception of women. The line becomes an order that women only wear their normal clothes - the clothes they are regularly "used" in - but also act in normal, "sexual" ways. Stevens' daughters aren't the only ones encouraged into sexual interactions; the speaker also commands complimentary behavior from the boys at the wake. The boys are asked to “bring flowers to last month’s newspapers”. The fact that these flowers are kept in "newspapers" and "last month's" as well, rather than being bare or in more pleasantly decorative packages (as we generally imagine flowers at funerals or wakes) suggests that this is an inappropriate contribution to the events. In fact, it seems that the flowers are not intended for the dead at all. Boys actually follow a different cultural convention; they deliver motley street bouquets to their dates, the girls who stand idly by “loitering” for their men. Like the “concupiscent curds” and the girls’ dresses that “they are wont to wear,” these flowers are symbols and harbingers of pleasure and courtship. Although out of place in this death scene, they would fit perfectly into a hedonistic celebration of life. While the first stanza uses vigorous diction and rhythms to create an atmosphere of pleasure and revelry, the second half of the poem uses these same themes as fodder for scorn and disdain. The use of sexual imagery is imbued with negative connotations when the speaker describes the corpse. The dead woman's feet are "excited," suggesting that she embodies vulgar sexuality even after the end of her life. This crude criticism is reinforced by the line break after "they come" - a particularly crude allusion which implies that her feet are so sexually aroused that they approach orgasm even after death. The fact that both of these insinuations are made using street slang rather than the subtle allusions of the first stanza also speaks to the poem's negative portrayal of sexuality. Shame is found even in death: the speaker asks that a sheet be spread “to cover her face”. The fact that the sheet may not have been long enough to cover both the corpse's head and toes also suggests a continuation of its promiscuity; his body will not be properly covered in death, just as it was improperly exposed in life. In a final moment of indignity, the woman is reduced to a play on words: “she is... mute”: without life, she is mute; When she was alive, she was stupid. While the girls and boys in the first stanza were encouraged to act out sexually, the dead woman is criticized for engaging in the exact same behaviors. Although this creates a contradictory view of sexuality in the text, the ambiguity is resolved by unpacking the obscure refrain at the end of each stanza. The first half ends with the words "Let this be the finale of the seem / The only emperor is the ice emperor"; the second says: “Let the lamp fix its beam / The only emperor is the emperor of ice.” » The two couplets have multiple similarities that make them..