to a great degree. One way in which twentieth century
             Americans have been shielded from death is the replacement of the wake at
             home with the funeral director and the funeral home. We have replaced
             familial cooperation and shared grieving with convenience. What seems to
             have happened in light of these changes is that the event of death seems to
             have become more one-dimensional in its emotion than it may once have been.
             What this long-winded introduction is attempting to lead toward is the
             notion that the two poems chosen for this discussion deal with death in the
             home on multiple levels of tone and emotion. Because the norm of the times
             was to deal with death (both before and after) in the home, both poems
             approach the topic with a distinct sense of intimacy and comfort. Emily
             Dickinson’s poem, "There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House," is
             believed to have been written in 1862. Wallace Stevens’ poem "The Emperor
             of Ice-cream," was published in his first collection of poetry, in 1923.
             Both poems have common elements (home and death, hustle and bustle, and a
             certain sense of irony), yet it is apparent that sixty-some years separate
             An initial distinction can be made between the two poems’ sense of
             perspective. The speaker in Dickinson’s poem is noticeably outside the main
             action of the poem—an outsider. The first line makes that clear: "There’s
             been a Death, in the Opposite House." The first line in Stevens’ poem,
             however, makes clear that the speaker is somehow an integral element of the
             goings-on in this death house. Here, the speaker seems to be orchestrating
             the whole event: "Call out the roller of big cigars." The speaker needs
             this particular person to perform tasks necessary for the wake. We, as
             readers, are viewing the events from inside the home. This is in distinct
             contrast to the patchwork story that the reader and speaker ...