Gather Ye Ice-Cream While Ye May: An In Depth Analysis of Wallace Stevens' “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” In the poem “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” by Wallace Stevens, a series of scenes are woven together through distinctly straightforward descriptions of the sights of a solitary man as he meanders through the dwelling of a deceased woman. The stanzas commence with the seemingly empty business dealing with the absurd: A scandalous setting dealing with whores, those that chase whores, and ice-cream. In these thickly packed verses, the point of view, the incredibly intentional format, an extended metaphor of ice-cream with a strange interpretive twist on what ice-cream really is, and the implication of no afterlife create richly dark tone that is helped established by the dazzling diction of the piece. This realist point of view focuses on objects and situations in the present world as they are. Death is minimized, and life after death is absent. When the present in emphasized and the future minimalized, the attitude of a piece of literature becomes categorized as 'carpe diem' literature, which translates from Latin to 'seize the day'. However, Stevens' work tweaks this olden genre with a modern twist of grim morbidity. Yes—the present is emphasized as the only tense worthy of concentration, but it also serves up an image of the present riddled with gaudiness and filth rather than a picturesque scene with true love's seduction taking place, setting Stevens' poem apart. From the very first word of the poem, there is a command coming from an unnamed speaker. This establishes a sense of authority and gives the speaker a dominant position where they are dictating the poem to the reader rather than a collaborative interacti... ... middle of paper ... ...hould: “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. /Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. / Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.” As stated by Ecclesiastes 9:3-12 of the New International Version Bible. Live in the moment. Carpe diem; seize the day; and gather ye rosebuds while ye may (Herrick). The poem commenced with the seemingly empty business of the absurd, but through the presentations of these scintillating scenes, “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” dictates that things are always exactly what they seem. Life is absurd, grim, morbid, and uncouth. Yet it is life, and it is chosen thus.
The informal language and intimacy of the poem are two techniques the poet uses to convey his message to his audience. He speaks openly and simply, as if he is talking to a close friend. The language is full of slang, two-word sentences, and rambling thoughts; all of which are aspects of conversations between two people who know each other well. The fact that none of the lines ryhme adds to the idea of an ordinary conversation, because most people do not speak in verse. The tone of the poem is rambling and gives the impression that the speaker is thinking and jumping from one thought to the next very quickly.
poem. The tone used by each poet is critical because it indicates to the reader their
The fundamental difference between present and past, the breakdown of static forms, and the necessity of temporal flow all inform Stevens' aesthetic, which works towards a dynamic experience in time, as a substitute for the communication of truth independent of time. I think an understanding of this (self-subverting) form has some important and complicated implications for a reading of Absalom, Absalom!, especially in terms of the relationship of historicity to orality in the novel, and of its distinctive and relatively homogeneous prose style. Ultimately to be found in these themes are the novel's fantasies of its form and of its reader.
The speakers and audience in poem are crucial elements of the poem and is also the case in these poems. In the poem Untitled, it can be argued that the poem is being written by Peter based on what his father might say to him...
The paper discusses the sound of the poem and how those certain words, said aloud, help to emphasize the meaning. Looking at the form of a poem in this way gave me a new way of looking at the text and finding the meaning. Personally, I have not had much familiarity looking at the sound of a text, but now see how the sound can be valuable when looking for the meaning of a text. I like to look at the imagery that is utilized in a text because I believe it works well in giving the reader a look into the text and bringing the text to life. What I have discovered reading about the formalist approach is to look at the overall form and how the text itself affects the meaning. Looking at the imagery and symbols helps me personally find the meaning in a text, so learning that the form of the text also can contribute to the meaning was
Jeanette Winterson’s Gut Symmetries seamlessly weaves together science and art to explore the boundaries of the body, relationships and life and in doing so reveals how inseparable love and consumption are. Using intimate first person narratives that confront the reader personally, Winterson takes us deep into the minds of Alice, Stella and Jove who find themselves caught in a love triangle that culminates in perhaps the most intimate act: cannibalism. The lives of Alice, a young physicist, Jove, a Princeton professor, and his wife Stella, an emotionally charged poet, collide when Alice meets Jove at sea. As Alice falls in love with both Jove and Stella it becomes painfully clear that in order to love one must consume their beloved forcing them to confront their own knowledge, fate and identity. Set against the infinite background of a quantum universe, both literally and metaphorically each of the narrators consumes those they love as well as themselves. Although the consumption of the bodies of the beloved may seem like a mutual expression of passion, through the intimate musings of Stella and Alice, Winterson’s prose reveals how the lines between our hearts and food are blurred and the female body in particular, becomes a cannibal feast for the men they love.
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
The poem “The Wife's Lament” the wife is face with being thrown into exile and he urges for he old life where her and her husband can lived in happiness. He journey come about when her husband, who is the Lord, exiles her. His family came between the two of them and inevitable caused their separation, although it isn’t clear in the poem what was the exact event that caused her banishment. The wife is then forced to relocate to the woods and there she spend her days pondering on a life of happiness with her husband. She talks about her husbands feeling towards the situation,saying ”Then I learned my Lord was like myslef”(Wife's Lament 18). She says this about her husband because they both feel betray...
The poem told the story of a man who is inhibited by language, and has never quite had the ability to articulate his thoughts and feeling through words. It is said that his family members have tried
Strand, Mark and Evan Boland. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New
Though most of the poem is not dialogue, from what little speaking there is between the...
In conclusion, footnotes can be incredibly useful in validating and sourcing a text. The authoritative language and placement on the page can have an impact on our reading of a piece of litterature. Nevertheless, Lucie Brock-Broido’s poem, “Self-Deliverance by Lion” is a powerful poem that when stands alone, is much more powerful and enjoyable. Because the footnote distracts the reader, adds unnecessary authority and detracts from the poetic freedom of the poet, the poem is more meaningful alone. Though the footnote can add more emotion for the reader, it is not worth the cost. Perhaps, poems are meant to be works of art presented without any other texts to interfere and distract the reader.
... is shown moreover through these pauses. We also see that he places question marks at the end of sentences, which is another way he is showing us the uncertainty in the voice of society. Through his punctuation and word placement, we clearly see the voice of society in his poem, but in a way that tells us not to conform to it.
Description and narrative are the chief modes of this poem. Nevertheless, at critical moments the actual utterance of the anonymous characters is invited in ("Yes, sir,/ all the way to Boston"). The binder of these varied procedures is the speak...
sense of closeness to the topic of his poem. In the very beginning of the poem we