Point of View

“The Invention of the Saxophone” is written using a third-person omniscient point of view. The word “remember” (Line 1) establishes that this is not a distant self-reflective voice, but rather one who speaks directly to the reader. The colloquial language throughout the poem characterizes the speaker as someone who understands their readers and the culture they’re presenting to them. The phrase “one gets the feeling” (Line 7) implies a human subjectivity, rather than a more concrete, objective God voice. In spite of this intimacy, the speaker has a wide range of knowledge concerning those affected by this moment in history, all the way up to the end of the world.

Language and Meaning

Billy Collins is known for his accessible, colloquial poetry that never positions itself as overly intellectual: a “working man’s poet”. “The Invention of the Saxophone”, likewise, uses primarily accessible language with only...