"Futility" is a poem written by Wilfred Owen, one of the most renowned poets of World War I.
Move him into the sun— Gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown.
—O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all?
Dyson claim that "Futility" is a "poetic equivalent...to the famous Tomb in Westminster Abbey".
[4] In 1982, singer Virginia Astley set "Futility" to music she had composed; the track was included on an NME compilation cassette in October 1982 (credited as The Ravishing Beauties) and on Virginia Astley's 1983 album Promise Nothing.