DIRECTIONS for questions: The poem given below is followed by five questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

As you set out for Ithaka 
hope the journey is a long one, 
full of adventure, full of discovery. 
Laistrygonians and Cyclops, 
angry Poseidon -don't be afraid of them: 
You'll never find things like that on your way 
As long as you keep your thoughts raised high, 
As long as a rare excitement 
stirs your spirit and your body. 
Laistrygonians and Cyclops, 
wild Poseidon -you won't encounter them 
unless you bring them along inside your soul, 
unless your soul sets them up in front of you. 
Hope the voyage is a long one, 
may there be many a Summer morning when, 
with what pleasure, what joy, 
you come into harbours seen for the first time; 
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations 
to buy fine things, 
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, 
sensual perfume of every kind 
as many sensual perfumes as you can; 
and may you visit many Egyptian cities 
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars. 
Keep Ithaka always in your mind. 
Arriving there is what you are destined for. 
But do not hurry the journey at all. 
Better if it lasts for years, 
so you are old by the time you reach the island, 
wealthy with all you have gained on the way, 
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. 
Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey, 
without her you would not have set out. 
She has nothing left to give you now. 
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you. 
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, 
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

 

Which of the following best reflects the central theme of this poem?