The Emperor of Ice-Cream

The “emperor of ice-cream” does not necessarily represent a real person but symbolizes a personification of the power life’s sensory experiences can have over a person. In the first stanza, the phrase can be applied to experiencing life’s pleasures in the moment. Everyone can use their senses and therefore the “emperor” rules over everyone when it comes to the sensations experienced during life. In the second stanza, the “emperor of ice-cream” is flipped to represent the “emperor” as death, something that is also unavoidable by all people. The tangential connection to the fable the emperor’s new clothes also suggests that no one can escape reality.

Temporary Objects

In the poem, multiple provisional objects represent the impermanence of life. The main symbol Stevens chooses to show this impermanence is ice-cream. Eating ice-cream is associated with a luxurious experience where the sweetness...