The Arcadians are not so much warned of an implacable future as they are immersed in mellow meditation on a beautiful past. In short, Poussin’s Louvre picture no longer shows a dramatic encounter with Death but a contemplative absorption in the idea of mortality. We are confronted with a change from thinly veiled moralism to undisguised elegiac sentiment.
As used in the passage, the term elegiac is closest in meaning to:
A piously hopeful.
B serenely reflective.
C profoundly grieving.
D poetically praising.