What is the theme of the wise by countee Cullen?

Answer 1

the speaker of "The Wise" makes a startling claim: "Dead men are wisest." The dead, that is, the deceased bodies lying in the grave, cannot be the wisest because they no longer retain the capacity for thinking. So upon encountering such an obvious falsehood, the reader shifts his thought to the soul that has left the physical body, and thus understands the speaker to be referring to the wise soul, not the dead body, which is incapable of any human activity.

Obviously, it's in reference to the soul. The previous post doesn't offer any analysis of the poem...simply a summary. It ignores the most important aspect of the poem--Cullen's tone toward his subject. He is envious of the dead. They are full of knowledge but without pain that comes with being alive.