关于史蒂文斯一首诗的闲聊
一个月前，和好友Andy聊了史蒂文斯一首诗。昨天看淑女剑那里史蒂文斯一首诗的讨论（http://www.douban.com/note/262044842/），想起了我和Andy的讨论。史蒂文斯有点语不惊人死不休，肚子里有股子暗恼，大概偶尔有点自嘲，在诗的世界里耍得狠，耍得聪明怪诞。贴出来这个诗聊天，给大家过年凑兴。
Hi, Andy,
Everyone is telling me that Steven's most interesting poem is that ice-cream emperor, ever Bishop is telling me this in her letter to Robert Lowell. I cannot really understand this poem, I just don't know how to taste it. Do you like it? If so, can you tell me why it is so interesting to everyone?
Best,
yan
The Emperor of Ice-Cream
by Wallace Stevens
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.
Hi Yan:
I was really amused to get this email from you, especially to see "I cannot really understand this poem." When I was studying literature, this is exactly what I said, about many poems by Stevens. And it's exactly what a lot of intelligent students say. (By the way, I prefer "Aesthetique du Mal" and the "Old Man on a Dump")
About its flavour—it's meant to sound deliberate out of date, in an absurd way.
-the poem is about a funeral for a woman—the sheet is going to cover her face
-it may be set in Key West, but almost certainly somewhere with a Cuban population—in the period when Stevens wrote, cigars would almost immediately suggest that the cigars were rolled by Cubans.
-Cubans, I think, had ice-cream at funerals. (!)
So, the Emperor of Ice Cream is the lord of death? Death?
-cigars were routinely phallic symbols ("Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar")
-"knobs", was (is?) is a slang reference to an erect penis
-"concupiscent", and possibly "wench" suggest sexual desire
Sexuality is life? Sexuality opposes death?
-"cream" and ice cream can be sexual. We say things like "She made me cream my jeans."
and licking an ice cream cone is like oral sex.
“Let be be finale of seem"—that is really tough.
"Let be" means something like "let it be", or "I will assent to things as they are."
"Let be be"????? Could this mean, "let be" being?
"Finale of seem" is easier (I think). Only what lives can "'seem."
"Seems, Madame, nay I know not seems", says Hamlet—meaning that he can't or won't deceive.
(I think it's likely that Stevens would have this in mind, the most famous use of the word in all the
English language.)
The finale of the ability to seem would have to be the end of life—which melts like ice cream?
Does this help?
Hi, Andy,
Everyone is telling me that Steven's most interesting poem is that ice-cream emperor, ever Bishop is telling me this in her letter to Robert Lowell. I cannot really understand this poem, I just don't know how to taste it. Do you like it? If so, can you tell me why it is so interesting to everyone?
Best,
yan
The Emperor of Ice-Cream
by Wallace Stevens
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.
Hi Yan:
I was really amused to get this email from you, especially to see "I cannot really understand this poem." When I was studying literature, this is exactly what I said, about many poems by Stevens. And it's exactly what a lot of intelligent students say. (By the way, I prefer "Aesthetique du Mal" and the "Old Man on a Dump")
About its flavour—it's meant to sound deliberate out of date, in an absurd way.
-the poem is about a funeral for a woman—the sheet is going to cover her face
-it may be set in Key West, but almost certainly somewhere with a Cuban population—in the period when Stevens wrote, cigars would almost immediately suggest that the cigars were rolled by Cubans.
-Cubans, I think, had ice-cream at funerals. (!)
So, the Emperor of Ice Cream is the lord of death? Death?
-cigars were routinely phallic symbols ("Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar")
-"knobs", was (is?) is a slang reference to an erect penis
-"concupiscent", and possibly "wench" suggest sexual desire
Sexuality is life? Sexuality opposes death?
-"cream" and ice cream can be sexual. We say things like "She made me cream my jeans."
and licking an ice cream cone is like oral sex.
“Let be be finale of seem"—that is really tough.
"Let be" means something like "let it be", or "I will assent to things as they are."
"Let be be"????? Could this mean, "let be" being?
"Finale of seem" is easier (I think). Only what lives can "'seem."
"Seems, Madame, nay I know not seems", says Hamlet—meaning that he can't or won't deceive.
(I think it's likely that Stevens would have this in mind, the most famous use of the word in all the
English language.)
The finale of the ability to seem would have to be the end of life—which melts like ice cream?
Does this help?
