Read the following excerpt from canto v of dante's inferno, in which the narrator describes sinners who are punished for lust:

and as the starlings are lifted on their wings in icy weather to wide and serried flocks, so does the gale lift up the wicked spirits, flinging them here and there and down and up: no hope whatever can ever comfort them, neither of rest nor of less punishment.

which sentence best explains dante's intended use of symbolism in this excerpt?

a. the storm is likened to icy weather that carry flocks of starlings.
b. the starlings stand for the freedom of being released from a life of lust.
c. the gale represents the desire that excited the sinners while alive.
d. the sinners are lifted and buffeted by extremely fierce winds