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Which lines from the poem best support the inference that children are more spiritual than adults?

Select each correct answer.

"The Youth, who daily farther from the east / Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,"

"Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;"

"Heaven lies about us in our infancy!"
"To make her Foster-child, her Inmate Man, / Forget the glories he hath known,"

"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:"

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Final answer:

The lines indicating that children are more spiritual than adults mention the youth as Nature's Priest, infancy surrounded by heaven, and the man who has forgotten his glorious, purer past. These suggest a spiritual connection in youth that's lost in adulthood.

Step-by-step explanation:

The lines from the poem that best support the inference that children are more spiritual than adults are:

  • "The Youth, who daily farther from the east / Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,"
  • "Heaven lies about us in our infancy!"
  • "To make her Foster-child, her Inmate Man, / Forget the glories he hath known,"

These lines suggest that children, representing youth and a connection to nature, retain a closeness and purity to spiritual elements, which are argued to diminish as one grows older. The metaphor of Nature's Priest for youth implies a sacred bond with the natural world, and the reference to heaven encapsulating infancy indicates a spiritual proximity to the divine. Additionally, the mention of forgetting past glories hints at an inherent spiritual wisdom in children that fades with age.

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