Imagination and Poetry

There is palpable delight in musical poetry that defies meaning. It is like music in that what it brings to mind is unique to the listener/reader. Children would have no trouble responding to such poems – that’s why nursery rhymes are so nonsensically wonderful: children don’t ask what they mean, do they (Hey, diddle diddle the cat and the fidde/the cow jumped over the moon . . .)? Wallace Stevens wrote this about poetry: “ ...things that have their origin in the imagination or in the emotions very often take on a form that is ambiguous or uncertain. It is not possible to attach a single, rational meaning to such things without destroying the imaginative or emotional ambiguity or uncertainty that is inherent in them and that is why poets do not like to explain.” Here’s one of Stevens’ best poems. Read it with an active imagination and enjoy.

The Emperor of Ice-Cream

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

-- Wallace Stevens