Wallace Stevens was an American modernist poet born in 1879. He worked as an insurance executive but was also known for his drinking and brawling. One incident involved getting in a fist fight with Ernest Hemingway at a party. Stevens' poem "The Emperor of Ice Cream" can be analyzed through a psychoanalytic lens by viewing it as representations of Freud's id, ego, and super-ego. The id represents desire for ice cream, the super-ego represents societal expectations, and the ego mediates between immediate gratification and long-term consequences.

1. Who was
Wallace Stevens?

2. The basics
An American modernist poet, Stevens was born October 2,
1879 in Reading, Pennsylvania
He attended Harvard and then New York Law School
Spent the majority of his adult life working for an insurance
company in Hartford, Connecticut
Had a wife named Elsie and one daughter named Holly

3. The cool stuff
Wallace Stevens was, for lack of a better term, kind of a badass.
A notorious drinker, Stevens had a habit of calling locations he had been
drinking in the night before to inquire as to what he had done.
At a party hosted by a mutual acquaintance, Wallace (drunk yet again)
proceeded to instigate a fist fight with Ernest Hemingway. Stevens broke
his hand as a result of punching Hemingway in the jaw. It is reported that
after the punch Hemingway repeatedly knocked Stevens to the ground until
he gave up his attack.
This may have been the first confrontation between the two, but it wasn’t
the last

4. What he thought about
The Emperor of Ice Cream
“I think I should select from my poems as
my favorite The Emperor of Ice Cream. This
wears a deliberately commonplace costume,
and yet seems to me to contain something of
the essential gaudiness of poetry; that is the
reason why I like it.” - Wallace Stevens

5. The Psychoanalytic View
of The Emperor of Ice Cream
a poem by Wallace Stevens

6. Psychoanalytic Literary Theory
The literary school of psychoanalytic theory is predicated
on the examination of literary works through a Freudian
lens.
One analyses a work by identifying the underlying pieces of
the human unconscious, the id, ego, and super-ego.
Each of these three parts represents a different facet of
human motivation and emotional development

7. What does all that mean?
According to this literary theory, all human
behavior and thought can be filtered through
the knowledge of the unconscious mind.
Each piece of our personalities represents a
different type of motivation and emotional
consideration for our actions.

8. Welcome to the id
Sigmund Freud broke the human psyche into 3
distinct parts.
The first of these aspects is the “id”.
Latin for the word “it”, the id is also known as
inner desire.

9. What is the id
According to Freud the id is the most primitive and
instinctive part of the personality.
The only concern of this facet is physical and
emotional reward.
The id is incapable of understanding the idea of
repercussions, and seeks to act regardless of
consequence

11. I want it, NOW!!!!!
Due to this attitude, the id does not possess
subtlety, and is more likely to speak frankly.
From the perspective of the id the poem can
only be about ice cream, and those who seek
to keep it from him.

12. Call the roller of big cigars
the muscular one and bid him whip
From the childlike perspective of the id, the roller of big
cigars is most likely some sort of father figure.
This is enforced by the description of muscular, it implies
an inability to enforce one’s will over another. One can also
infer an expectation that the “roller” is somehow in charge
and capable of providing for the desires of the id.
A responsibility that would often be attributed to a parent.

13. Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they were used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
Here we are shown the disregard shown to those that the id
considers inconsequential.
Being incapable of empathy, the id ignores those incapable
of helping him to attain his desire as worthless.
As long as such minor players stay out of his way, he is
unlikely to think upon them further.

14. Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
Here we see a representation of the id’s emotional
connection to the mother figure. (or lack there of)
As we saw with the father, the id sees the mother as more of
an obstacle, though emotional attachment can be seen
through the connection made with her embroidery and the
reverence shown through the covering of her face.

15. If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb
Here we are treated once more the inability of the id to create
lasting or powerful emotional connections.
While the id is traditionally connected strongly with the
mother figure, that connection is broken by the finality of
death.
Now that the mother figure is no longer with the living, the id
immediately lets go of her presence in favor of that which can
still provide pleasure.

16. The only emperor is the
emperor of ice-cream.

17. Time to meet the super-ego
The second of Freud’s theoretical pieces of the human
psyche, is known as the “super-ego”.
The super-ego represents the portion of the personality that
internalizes cultural/societal lessons and expectations.
The super-ego, for lack of a better term, functions
as our conscience, constantly reminding us of the
right thing to do.

18. In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they were used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Here we see a representation of societal expectation. The
mother and father in a loving home, girls acting frivolous
and feminine, while boys seek to win their favor with
flowers.
The super-ego seeks to learn these lessons of contemporary
society and encourages the speaker of the poem to model
behavior according to them.

19. Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
In these lines we are witness to the internalization of memory in
the form of ideals.
The imagery of the broken knobs hint at a memory from
childhood, how were they broken and what lesson was learned.
One can picture images from childhood of a mother sewing as a
son learns what behavior is expected of women.

20. The harbinger of reality
The final of Freud’s psychic apparatus is known as the
“ego”.
The ego is the part of the personality responsible for
mediating between the id and the super-ego.
The ego seeks to satiate the id in realistic ways, without
ignoring the long-term repercussions of immediate
gratification.

21. The place where consciousness resides
The ego is the part of our personality that we
are consciously aware of.
Freud credited the ego with the possession
of control, judgement, tolerance and
defence, among other things.

22. The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream
If we credit the id for an insatiable drive for ice-cream
And we credit the super-ego with reminding us that this is
not the time for ice-cream
Then it is the job of the ego to mediate this dispute between
the other parts of ourselves.

23. Funeral
now...

24. Ice-cream
later!