The correct answer is 3. muteness because in Wordsworth's The Prelude, the passage about the Boy of Winander describes a moment of emotional and spiritual reflection after the boy's death, which brings about a profound silence. The boy, who had once communicated with nature through sound (echoing owls, for example), is now quiet, in a sense "mute," after his death. The "muteness" here isn't about physical inability to speak but symbolizes the stillness and silence that follows his death.
In the lines, Wordsworth reflects on how the boy, who used to enjoy calling out to the echoes in nature, has now fallen silent. This loss of sound after the boy's passing creates a feeling of stillness and quiet, reflecting the muteness brought on by death.
Thus, the boy is described in a metaphorical sense as "mute," since he no longer interacts with the world through sound. This symbolic muteness ties into the overall theme of death and the quiet it brings, which is why the correct answer is muteness rather than blindness, deafness, or lameness.
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