Page 207 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“The Emperor of Ice Cream”
by Wallace Stevens, pages 86-87

Vocabulary
concupiscent – lusty; full of desire
protrude – stick out
affix – fasten

1. What kind of ceremony is taking place in this poem?

2. The speaker suggests that the girls wear their everyday dresses and that the boys bring
flowers “in last month’s newspapers.” What does this say about his attitude towards
ceremony and propriety?

3. What do you think the speaker means by the line “Let be be finale of seem”?

4. What do you think the speaker means by the poem’s refrain of “The only emperor is the
emperor of ice-cream”?

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