Read the poem:

The Cremation of Sam McGee
by Robert W. Service

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

How does the simile in the third stanza affect the poem?

A. It implies that the speaker will be able to escape the cold because the driving of a nail takes only a short time.
B. It suggests that the stress of his experience caused the speaker to lose his sense of reality.
C. It conveys the physical and mental pain caused by the brutal conditions of the icy North.
D. It briefly softens the mood of the poem by comparing the cold to something that is not cold.