Behind through the soft air the blue haze-cradled mountains spread away. in this line, haze-cradled means. a.drenched by rain. b.gilded in color. c.supported by cold. d.surrounded by mist.

I would contend that the right answer is the D) Surrounded by mist.

Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can be added that in this excerpt from his poem "A Summer Night," the 19th-century British poet Matthew Arnold is describing a thought or a memory "of a past night" spent in the countryside outdoors. Behind some houses, "through the soft air," he remembers having seen the "blue haze-cradled mountains spread away." If the mountains were symbolically cradled, they were embraced, held, or surrounded by haze, which is a phenomenon very similar to mist—haze is the suspension of minuscule dry particles in the air, and mist is the suspension of water droplets.

c. to depict the cunningness of the federal soldiers