“Ghost House” by Robert Frost

I DWELL in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls,
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.

O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shield
The woods come back to the mowing field;
The orchard tree has grown one copse
Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;
The footpath down to the well is healed.

I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart
On that disused and forgotten road
That has no dust-bath now for the toad.
Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;

The whippoorwill is coming to shout
And hush and cluck and flutter about:
I hear him begin far enough away
Full many a time to say his say
Before he arrives to say it out.

It is under the small, dim, summer star.
I know not who these mute folk are
Who share the unlit place with me—
Those stones out under the low-limbed tree
Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.

They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,
Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,—
With none among them that ever sings,
And yet, in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had.

Use the poem to answer the question.

In lines 7–9 (“The woods come back . . . woodpecker chops”), the speaker implies which of the following?

A. The soul remains on earth after death.
B. Life is a continual cycle of birth and death.
C. Nature reclaims the land after humans depart.
D. The past is forgotten by both humans and nature.
E. Nature is a powerful and rejuvenating force.

The correct answer is C. Nature reclaims the land after humans depart. The speaker describes how the woods have come back and the orchard tree has grown, indicating that nature has taken over the land that was once inhabited by humans.