Read the excerpt. full many a gem of purest ray serene the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desert air. how do the images in these lines from “elegy written in a country churchyard” by thomas gray give the reader a powerful sense of what is unknown or lost? the power of these lines stem from the anger with which the speaker views the wastefulness of death. the lines are poignant because they illustrate that, after our own deaths, life will go on in the world. the poignancy of the lines comes from the idea that, after death, one can no longer know the beauty of nature. the poignancy of the lines comes from the thought that the beauty of a human can go unappreciated by anyone.

Which sentence in this excerpt from leo tolstoy’s the death of ivan ilyich shows the human tendency to contemplate one’s past life? "but if that is so," he said to himself, "and i am leaving this life with the consciousness that i have lost all that was given me and it is impossible to rectify it—what then? " he lay on his back and began to pass his life in review in quite a new way. in the morning when he saw first his footman, then his wife, then his daughter, and then the doctor, their every word and movement confirmed to him the awful truth that had been revealed to him during the night. in them he saw himself—all that for which he had lived—and saw clearly that it was not real at all, but a terrible and huge deception which had hidden both life and death. this consciousness intensified his physical suffering tenfold. he groaned and tossed about, and pulled at his clothing which choked and stifled him. and he hated them on that account. he was given a large dose of opium and became unconscious, but at noon his sufferings began again. he drove everybody away and tossed from side to side. his wife came to him and said: "jean, my dear, do this for me. it can't do any harm and often . healthy people often do it." he opened his eyes wide. "what? take communion? why? it's unnecessary! " she began to cry. "yes, do, my dear. i'll send for our priest. he is such a nice man." "all right. very well," he muttered. when the priest came and heard his confession, ivan ilyich was softened and seemed to feel a relief from his doubts and consequently from his sufferings, and for a moment there came a ray of hope. he again began to think of the vermiform appendix and the possibility of correcting it. he received the sacrament with tears in his eyes.