Reread these lines from the poem.

And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

How do these lines reflect the theme that the happiness of childhood is fleeting?


They show that the speaker feels like being an adult is like dying or being shackled.

They show that his happy times on the farm seem like a dream to the speaker now.

They show that the speaker will never see the farm in the same way he did as a child.


They show that the speaker thinks time was merciful to allow him to become an adult.