Which two couplets best establish the voice of the speaker as a serious and determined person?

a. He had his dream, and all through life, worked up to it through toil and strife.
b. Afloat fore'er before his eyes, it colored for him all his skies.
c. He labored hard and failed at last, his sails too weak to bear the blast.
d. But what cared he for wind or sea! He said, 'The tempest will be short, my bark will come to port.'