THE PULLEY BY GEORGE HERBERT
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
“Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can.
Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie,
Contract into a span.”
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.
“For if I should,” said he,
“Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.
“Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.”
In metaphysical poets , the following are called as religious poets 1)George Herbert 2)Richard Crashaw 3)Henry Vaughan
Pulley means a mechanical device, it is used to lift something from the ground
In this poem, the word Pulley is used metaphorically
Here it is God’s rope to lift man towards Him(God , anywhere in the middle of sentence Him,His “H” made caps means it refers to god not man)
Herbert inverts(opposite of) the Greek Mythology Pandoro’s box (in this box only one thing is left that was Hope)
Pandora’s Box- it contains full of evils, it was possessed by first woman Pandora.
According to Greek Mythology, she was the first woman created by Hephaestus(God of Fire and craftsman). She was sent as wife to Epimetheus(brother of Prometheus, these two were first men), Epimetheus inspite of his brother Prometheus warning married her, she then opened the box which contained evils, thus the evils spread the world, but hope remained in the box
God decided to pour blessings when he first made man
God’s blessings came out of a glass
Blessings
1)Strength
2)Beauty
3)Wisdom
4)Honour
5)Pleasure
6)Rest
God stopped the pouring on man and one blessing remained in the glass that was Rest
Rest is the final blessing withheld/kept himself by God
If the final blessing Rest is given to man
Then he will not pay attention to the giver
So Rest blessing is used by the God to lift man towards him
This poem is psychological analyses of man
Man forgets the creator in his Prosperity
If God gives Rest to man, man would rest in the nature and not in the God of nature, then both God and Man will be the losers
“Bestow this jewel also on my creature he would adore my gifts instead of me and rest in nature , not the god of nature , so both should losers be”
The want of rest only makes man to think about God. So let him be rich and weary then atlast even goodness may not lead him to God but sufferings will lead him to God’s breast
God himself speaks in last 2 stanzas
“For if I should said he bestow this jewel on my creature”
“If goodness lead him not yet weariness may toss him to my breast”
The word rest is used in this poem, it may give multiple meaning
A)absense of work b)feels satisfactory c)the remaining d)Eternal sleep(death)
The title of the poem, The Pulley is used here as conceit
It is four stanza poem. Each stanza contains 5 lines (called as quintains)
The Rhyme scheme of the poem is ababa
Additional point
Cavalier poets: They are associated with the court of Charles I. They wrote witty and polished lyrics of love and gallantry. The group included John Suckling, Richard lovelace, John Cleveland, Thomas Carew and Robbert Herrick
Cavalier poets are also called as Royalists
John Donne is not a royalist or cavalier poet
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