Read the poem.
Melody for Saxophone
Man it was a dead-air day-
the soundproof sky pressing its gray padding onto my head
the bare silver trees were flutes no one's fingers played
and I remembered it was the shortest day of the year.
I muted my brain through an echoless tunnel-
Then the hill crest launched a sky tune
On the ridge a whiskered saxophone man in a cloud-black coat
leaned back
tossed bebop notes, rang the bell of his gold horn-
they swirled kicked curled poured
like steam breaking free
How does the symbolic description of music affect the poem's
tone?
It maintains the carefree, singsong tone of the poem
from the beginning to the end.
It shifts the poem's tone from impersonal and
objective to personal and subjective.
It changes the tone from one of downcast complaint
to one of gladness and celebration.
It lends a slow-paced, thoughtful tone to the poem,
almost like a funeral.