Examine the relationship between God and man in The Pulley.

Answer Details

George Herbert's The Pulley is a metaphysical devotional poem that explains, through a witty conceit, why God made human beings restless. The relationship between God and man that it presents is one of a loving, wise Creator and a dependent creature deliberately kept incomplete so that he will finally turn back to God.

God as generous Creator. The poem opens with God at the creation of man, pouring out His blessings from a glass "of blessings standing by." God gives freely and abundantly: strength, beauty, wisdom, honour and pleasure all flow into man. The relationship begins in generosity; God wishes His creature to enjoy "the world's riches."

The withheld gift: rest. But when almost all the blessings have been poured out, God pauses. One gift, "rest," lies at the bottom of the glass, and God chooses to withhold it. The relationship is thus shaped by a deliberate, loving restraint: God gives everything except contentment.

God's reasoning. God explains His purpose. If man were given rest as well as all other gifts, he would "adore my gifts instead of me," resting in Nature rather than in the God of Nature. Man would love the blessings and forget the Giver. Therefore God keeps back rest so that man's very restlessness and weariness will drive him upward.

The "pulley" conceit. Here lies the title's meaning. As a pulley uses weight to lift, God uses man's lack (his "repining restlessness") as a mechanism to raise him toward heaven. God says that if goodness will not lead man to Him, then "weariness may toss him to my breast." Man's dissatisfaction becomes the rope that pulls him back to God.

The nature of the relationship. The poem therefore presents God as a caring, far-sighted Father who loves man enough to deny him ease for his own eternal good, and man as a richly gifted but restless being whose incompleteness is designed to keep him dependent on, and returning to, his Maker. It is a relationship of divine love working even through human discontent.

Conclusion. The Pulley shows a God who blesses man abundantly yet withholds rest, so that man's restlessness will finally throw him back into God's arms. The relationship between God and man is one of loving purpose: human dissatisfaction is not cruelty but the very means of drawing the soul home to God.