The sentence that best describes the symbolic meaning of gold in the poem is The wonderful things in life that do not last.
This poem uses a very important parallel where it shows the word Gold as a precious or perfect thing in this line "Nothing gold can stay". We have another example that talks about how things that we appreciate in life are not eternal and we have to live them when they are happening in the line "Nature's first green is gold".
The other options are not possible because the poem has a constant element of transition from one thing to another which represents temporal things.
The answer could be a pun??
Answer:
E. reinforce the author’s overarching claim about ordinary people’s capacity for success
Explanation:
Answer E
Correct. A base metal is a metal of little monetary value, as opposed to a precious metal like gold. In stating that “from apparently the basest metals we have the finest toned bells,” the author asserts that a material that is considered worthless can nevertheless become the medium for the beautiful sound of a high-quality bell. He notes that people who are not valued by society (“simple manhood,” “dregs of society”) can similarly achieve great things sometimes. He then observes that steel objects and rusty razors can actually improve in quality after being left “neglected and forgotten” in the dirt, reflecting that the most marginalized and maligned of people (“the lowly and despised”) can similarly become agents of “improvement and progress” for the world. The comparison between metals and people thus reinforces the author’s thesis that people who do not seem to possess great talent or many advantages can still achieve extraordinary things (“excellence often comes unheralded and from unexpected quarters”).
The story is basically saying that we can learn from our elders, because they have been around longer and have more experience than us.
You can see this when it says "the tree is older than you are...you might find stories in its branches".