"The Pulley" by George Herbert - a background study

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 this poem, Herbert gives his own idea of creation of man. God, after offering every blessings He has, retains 'rest' with Him. This is very much relevant to the myth of pandora's box. Inspite of being a theologist, Herbert tries to propose his own creation theory which is contractory to what is stated in the Bible.

                 Earlier, when the Renaissance was yet to start, people perceived the idea of God as concrete. During Renaissance, it was shattered. With the advancement of science and modern discoveries, the idea of God becomes more complex and complicated ;it becomes abstract. Until that, people understood laws of nature only from Bible. Invention of telescope, explored more about cosmic universe. The active use of compass in sea travel enabled sailors to discover new lands , revolving round the earth and thereby falsed the previous idea of earth being flat. Human body is believed to be filled with blood. Later, William Harvey clarified the circulation of blood by explaining the functioning of human heart. All these new discoveries sprouted between 16th and 17th century. Between the same period, all metaphysical poets came out with their writings.

                 The unique commonality among these inventions is 'motion'. Previously, man perceived world in stable state. The new findings stimulated the thought process of intellutuals like metaphysical poets to understand world in 'movement' or the world that 'changes'. Parallely, Materialism was progressing which was later refined in the hands of Engels and Karl Marx as Marxism. Of course, Samuel Johnson groups Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Cowley, Vaughn, Marvel, Carew and Trahern as 'Metaphysical Poets', there is only a least probabiliy of each of them met or read others. The thing that unites is studying world in 'motion' , which results in predominant tone of Carpe Diem principle in their poems. Most of their themes are about God but not all. However, when it comes to Herbert, he shows much concern in God-Man relationship.

                 In the poem, "The Pulley", Herbert tries to picturise the God-Man relationship by comparing it with the pulley. Pulley is a mechanical device to pull heavy loads with less amount of energy. God offers all blessings - strength, beauty, wisdom, honour and pleasure, to man except 'rest'- the satisfaction to live with. If God bestowes that, being a self-satisfied man he won't think of God and it is useless for both Creator and creation. So God retains 'rest' with him so that man, whenever in troubles, turn towards God and thereby God can have a lasting relationship with mankind. The one end of the rope that runs through the pulley symbolises God and the other end to man. God, by using "repining restlessnes" as pulley, drives man towards him. A far-fetched image is used as metaphysical conceit inorder to explain the relationship between God and Man. The pulley used as a metaphor is not an inanimate object but an object in 'motion'- the rope through which the pulley moves. Capturing metaphors 'in-motion' was popularised by the metaphysical poets as we see in "compass" conceit by Donne who brings the metaphor of compass in 'motion' and not at rest. 

                 Herbert, like most of the metaphysical poets, attended Trinity college, in Cambridge to study Theology as well exposed to modern discoveries. As a university student, he was able to understand basic science as much as he understand God. Most of his poems deal with his dilemma between God and Science. He never rejected God but for him, God becomes more and more an abstract idea. Once accepted beliefs in God were modified and trust in God becomes more of 'faith' than fact. His personal experience of being 'restless' in life made him to create his own assumption of creation of man.