American Literature / Unit 14 AML 1323 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"The Emperor of Ice-Cream"
Captions available
The idea
A kitchen full of noise and cheap finery sits beside a room where a dead woman lies with her feet protruding, and the poem twice declares that the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream. The reading turns on whether that line celebrates appetite or dismisses consolation.
In practice
A wake, and a bowl of ice-cream.
Where people slip
The famous line is a repeated riddle.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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