Final answer:
The literary device used in the first two lines of 'George Gray' by Edgar Lee Masters is a metaphor, drawing a comparison between the speaker's life and a boat with a furled sail at rest.
Step-by-step explanation:
The first two lines of 'George Gray' by Edgar Lee Masters utilize the literary device known as a metaphor. The lines compare the marble statue chiseled for the speaker to a boat with a furled sail at rest, symbolizing the speaker's life without action or fulfillment. This direct comparison between the seemingly unrelated objects — the marble and the boat — without using 'like' or 'as' illustrates the essence of a metaphor in figurative language. The device allows the reader to grasp a deeper meaning behind the text by associating the qualities of the tangible object (a boat at rest) with the experiences and emotions of the speaker's life.