Summary

The speaker describes a night in 1842 in which a man named Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone. The instrument is precise and sensual, with a strange sound attuned to the night atmosphere. The first time he played it, those awake went to their windows to listen, while those asleep dreamt more deeply. The speaker describes the sound of the music as one of “longing and loss” (Line 19), something early and primal. They consider the end of the world as described in the Bible, in which an angel blows a trumpet to signal the end of the world. Were he to play a saxophone instead, the world’s people would be drawn by the music and come back to the light.

Analysis

“The Invention of the Saxophone” begins in medias res, or in the midst of the action. The poem picks up mid-conversation as if the...