Woke, once, the clays of a cold star Are limbs, so dear achieved. are Sides full nerved still warm too hard To stir was it, for this the clay grew Tall? O w...

Answer Details

The theme of the poem is the futility of life. The speaker questions why the sunbeams, with all their energy, bother to try to break the sleep of the earth and create life, only to have that life eventually return to the earth as nothing but clay. The imagery of the cold star and the hard clay emphasize the unyielding nature of existence, and the use of words like "fatuous" (meaning silly or pointless) further highlights the sense of futility.