“Full many a gem of purest ray serene" is a line from :
AThomas Gray
BMatthew Arnold
CRobert Frost
DEmily Dickinson
Answer:
A. Thomas Gray
Read Explanation:
Thomas Gray and His Famous Poem
'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard'
- The line "Full many a gem of purest ray serene" is famously from the poem 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' by the English poet Thomas Gray.
- This poem is considered one of the greatest elegies in the English language.
- It was first published in 1751.
- The poem reflects on the life and death of ordinary people buried in a country churchyard and contemplates themes of mortality, memory, and social inequality.
- Thomas Gray (1716-1771) was a prominent figure of the Graveyard School of poetry, a subgenre that emerged in the 18th century, characterized by its melancholic and reflective tone on death and the afterlife.
- Other notable works by Thomas Gray include 'Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College' and 'The Progress of Poesy'.
- The poetic style of 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' is characterized by its iambic pentameter and its use of quatrains (four-line stanzas) with a specific rhyme scheme (ABAB CDCD etc.).
- The phrase "gem of purest ray serene" is a metaphor used to describe the unacknowledged and uncelebrated virtues and talents of the common people buried in the churchyard, who, like a hidden gem, possess great value but remain unseen and unknown.