Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
These lines have been quoted from the famous elegy, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", composed by Thomas Gray, an eighteenth century poet. In these lines the poet has used two beautiful metaphors to glorify the unknown villagers buried in the country churchyard.
After a criticism of the "pomp and power" of the rich people and their ornamented graves, the poet describes that some of the humble villagers had exceptional sagacity and great possibilities but could not materialise those qualities for their poverty. These poor people remained unknown like the hidden gems at the bottom of unfathomable ocean. They were like desert flowers that bloom and wither away without the knowledge of the civil world. Perhaps, there had been someone among these villagers who could competently rule the country or someone who could have been a great musician if he had been given chance. The poet urges that these humble people buried in the churchyard should not be ignored or hated. They had all potentialities but fortune did not allow them to flourish. The poet has glorified them very sympathetically.
