The Man with the Saxophone is a renowned poem that has intrigued poetry lovers and critics alike for many years. The meaning is that no matter ones feelings of sadness, solitude, and loneliness, music is capable of elevating one spirit, at least temporarily. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The poet contrasts ideas of optimism and beauty in this passage, such as a flower and a fresh day, with imagery of darkness and the word unforgiving, the color black, and concrete, among other things. [10][11] She is the author of No Surrender, (2010), which was published after her death, Dread (W. W. Norton & Co., 2003); Vice (1999), which won the National Book Award;[5] Greed (1993); Fate (1991); Sin (1986), which won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation; Killing Floor (1979), which was the 1978 Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets; and Cruelty (1973). Readers confront the inner worlds of former F.B.I. The speaker mentions the quiet so complete that permeated the nearby streets before the musician begins to play. "Ai." director J. Edgar Hoover, missing-and-presumed-dead Union leader Jimmy Hoffa, musician Elvis Presley, and actor James Dean as voices from beyond-the-grave who remain out of sync with social or ethical norms. Noting that Ai reinvents each of her subjects within her verse, Ackerson added that, through each monologue, what these individuals say, returning after death, expresses more about the American psyche than about the real figures. Vice: New and Selected Poems (1999) contained work from Ais previous five books as well as 18 new poems. Gale, 2001. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The passage starts by portraying a desolate tone through the dreary diction of the speaker. Full Document. Readers are presented with vacant streets, snow from last week, and the speaker ambling down the road instead of the fast-paced, chaotic, and intense scene one might anticipate. In the next day, Peggy goes into labor and in the same day, while she is home alone, she sees the snake coming from her closet.