3.2 PULLEY OR THE GIFT OF GOD

BBA & BHM – I STUDY MATERIAL

UNIT III – POETRY

3.2 PULLEY OR THE GIFT OF GOD

• GEORGE HERBERT

 

INTRODUCTION:

Pulley or the Gift of God is written by George Herbert(1593-1633). The Pulley is a good example of Herbert’s simplicity that only a great artist can attain. He gives this story a delightful twist. The poem, “The Pulley,” is one of those poems, that is deep in meaning. It is a comforting sort of poem. God is shown as a God who knows everything and how everything will turn out. The poem starts out with God creating man. He wants to pour all of His blessings into man. He knows that man is a beautiful, strong creation, and He wants to reward him. The one thing he doesn’t want to give to man is His rest. Why you may ask? Rest is so important for a person. Rest is seen as kind of a Pandora’s Box. God knows that if he gives rest to man, then man will come to worship all the things in nature, instead of worshiping God.

 

EXPLANATION:

When God created man, he wanted to give his new creation all possible blessings, such as beauty, wisdom, honor, and pleasure.  God gives these blessings to man by pouring them out of a “glass of blessings.” The only blessing that God leaves in the bottle is “Rest.”  This gift is so precious that God does not want to give it to man; if man would have it, he would worship “Nature, not the God of Nature.”

God prefers that man should be “rich and weary,” so that eeriness may toss him to God’s breast. In other words, if man will at least be tired, he will have reason to fear God.  If God bestow this jewel also on creature, He would adore his gifts instead of God, and rest in Nature, not the God of Nature; thus, both are losers. God is concerned that man will rest in Nature, and not in Him.

God had full knowledge that His treasures would tire man and make him exhausted. He wanted man to find true rest only in Him. He wants all of us to come to Him, for He alone can truly give us the rest we so desperately seek. It is in his weariness, then, that man will realize his imperfections and his need for God and the spiritual life. Then, he will reach for God’s “pulley” and seek heaven.

CONCLUSION:

Pulleys and hoists are mechanical devices aimed at assisting us with moving heavy loads through a system of ropes and wheels (pulleys) to gain advantage. We should not be surprised at the use of a pulley as a central conceit since the domain of physics and imagery from that discipline would have felt quite comfortable to most of the metaphysical poets.