The Pulley George Herbert Summary

January 25, 2022

George Herbert

About the poet

George Herbert ( 1593-1633 ) was a Welsh poet and a parish priest in Wiltshire. His poetry belongs to the school of metaphysical poetry. Herbert's collection of English poems, The Temple, was published posthumously in 1633. All of Herbert's surviving poetry is religious and some of them are used as hymns. His poetry is noted for its directness and complex metrical patterns,

Summary

The poem ' The Pulley ', is written by a welsh poet George Herbert '. He is a religious poet. His poetry belongs to the school of metaphysical poetry. He uses an extended metaphor or conceit to elucidate his purpose in the poem. This poem is about a man's soul, which is compared to a pulley. The poet develops metaphor in a more complex manner to lead the reader to a better understanding of God's purpose in creating mankind. A pulley is a mechanical device used for lifting weights with a downward application of force. In the present poem, ' God ' is working like the pulley who pulls each sacred gift from a glass brimming over until he comes to the last one.

The poem starts with God creating a man who wants to pour all of his blessings into males. He says , ' Let us, pour on him all we can ........ This line tells us that when God wants to create a man, God wants to give everything he has to offer to the man. He literally pours his blessings on the man. God blessed the man and gives him all his riches because God feels that this man is worthy of these riches. God does this out of the goodness of his heart because he loves the man. God starts to pour the blessings into a man. First, he gives the blessing of strength, Then beauty flows, then wisdom, honor, pleasure gives to man. God pulls each sacred gift from a glass brimming over until he comes to the last one. God pauses and saw that there is only a blessing left. And the last blessing left in the bottom is ' s'Rest God knows that if he gives rest to man, then man will come to worship all things in nature, instead of worshiping God. Here, we saw that 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 that man would find the true rest only in him. In the last stanza of the poem, God decided to keep the rest with him and not to pour ' rest ' to a man. He expects that man should feel discontent and unable to rest or relax as a result of anxiety or boredom. Because he knows that if he would be given the rest to the man he would forget the creator '. So, God prefers that man should be " rich & weary ", so that " weariness may toss him to his breast. " It means, if a man's goodness would not lead him to the God, at least his weariness would lead him towards God.

Here, God thinks that if the man will at least be tired, he will have reason to worship him and beg for pleasure and rest. If the love of God does not return man to him, his weariness of the world will. And the man should find true rest in god. In this way, the poet expresses god's purpose in creating mankind. DRESS.