The answer is the first one.
In "Writers often disavow the notion of a 'literary duty'" the author conveys a somewhat condescending attitude, as if they would always follow this and set aside anyone who said otherwise. This attitude says the author is looking down on them, and that the author believes that many authors do not meet their standards.
Another answer I would consider is "...writers ruined by their shrill commitments." However, there is no context or clear tone. The author could be mournful of the lost potential for all we know.
In my opinion, the whole poem is quite ironic - although she is mentioning the exultation and the royal color of death, the poem itself begins with the narrator saying that she cannot breathe - that she doesn't want to die.
So, I would say that the ironic parts are:
Exultation is the going
Of an inland soul to sea, -
Past the houses, past the headlands,
Into deep eternity!
B.Benjamin Franklin traveled to meet dr.Mesmer
Answer:
They started out as stories told aloud to young people