<P> The clod in this poem represents innocence . Its view of love is, according to Joseph Heffner, full of "childlike innocence ." The choice of a clod of clay to represent this innocent view of love is significant because it is soft, and this view point is easily squished by life, or in this poem the foot of a cow . The clod also represents innocence because it is made of clay, the same material God used to mold Adam . </P> <P> The pebble, with its solid and hard structure represents being hardened by the experience of love, and has, according to Joseph Heffner has gained authority through that experience . The pebble views love as something that is selfish . It also according to Joseph Heffner the use of the word "bind" by the pebble "suggests a sort of aggressive, violent and masculine view of love ." </P> <P> The last stanza of the poem the pebble's view of selfish love was used as the epigraph for Evelyn Scott's 1921 novel The Narrow House . According to Pat Tyler the women in this novel have been "hardened by her life experiences . Each is solely concerned with her own survival, hardened to the suffering of the others ." </P>

Who has stepped on the clod of clay