George
Herbert was out and out a religious poet of early seventeenth century. Right from his
childhood Herbert’s mind was moulded in the righteous atmosphere under the guidance of his pious
mother. Later he became a priest of the
church of England and naturally his religious faith developed and heightened to
a great extent. George Herbert was
Donne’s follower and he alone among Donne’s followers composed religious poems
only, metaphysical verse concentrating on religious subject.
“The Pulley” , a short poem consisting of four stanzas only ,five lines each, is written on religious theme. The poem projects the relationship between God and man, the father –son relationship obviously. God is the supreme creator and man is the creation, man is soul and God is the absolute soul. God is all mindful and careful during the creation of man. He never wants any separation from man because both God and man would be losers if the link between them is detruncated. The thinking of God during the creation of human beings is the subject matter of this poem and the outcome of that thinking basically controls the life of this supreme creation namely man.
God is the supreme father and man is his beloved son. God keeps measureless love and grace for man that is proved during his creation. At that moment God was ready with the “glass of blessings”, with all choicest gifts of this universe, not to give man but pour on him. First of all the treasure of ‘strength’ God gave to man, then all the priceless treasures like ‘beauty’, ‘wisdom’, ‘honour’, ‘pleasure’ and so on flowed one by one to man. How lucky man was ! God was not at all parsimonious in bestowing the heavenly benedictions . Like a scrupulous loving father God kept the treasure of “Rest” at the bottom of the “glass of blessings”. No, it was not God’d niggardliness, it was God’s deliberate plan. God kept the “Rest” at the bottom so that man could see it, could realize its existence, but could not touch it easily, in a word could hardly achieve the “Rest” in his mundane existence. If rest becomes unachievable in worldly state, there must have some ‘weariness’ and ‘restlessness’ on man’s part. What would be God’s purpose to push man towards ‘restlessness’ ?
The
maxim that “God is good” is perpetual. The ‘absolute soul’ (paramatma) does not
want any separation from ‘soul’(atma) . God thought if “Rest” was attained so easily, man
would indulge in enjoying “Rest”. Being contented man would forget all other
benedictions endowed to him and forget
his creator also. Man would be loser, and God would not be less loser. If man suffers from restlessness,
man must remember God, must come to him for a respite, for removing his state
of restlessness. If man surrenders himself to God, if soul (atma) mingles with ‘absolute
soul’ (paramatma), the life of man on this world would become meaningful. The
aura of God would protect all other gifts like ‘strength’, ‘beauty’, ‘wisdom’, ‘honour’,
‘pleasure’ etc. In such a state all these treasures would remain uncorrupted.
Here one discovers the replica of a wise father in God. A wise father always
gives choicest gifts to his son, but never gives all the money and wealth owned
by him. If father gives his all to his son the latter would feel no necessity
of his father and naturally would forget him very soon and easily. The earthly existence
of man is surrounded by all the negatives forces like profaneness, darkness of
mind and lowliness of character. When ‘restlessness’ would draw man to God, man
would gradually become purer, bathing in
divine light. Man with mortal sins can not go back to his original home, the
heaven. God with the device named “restlessness” draw man to him for the preparation
for having “Rest” that is not attainable
in his mundane existence.
A pulley is
a wheel, a sort of device to raise a weight easily from the bottom. The ‘lacking
of rest’ or the ‘state of restlessness’ is equated to such a device (pulley)
that would be used for lifting man from the bottom by the grace of God. If such
a pulley is not arranged by supreme father (Param Pita), man would surely
follow a downward movement, the way of
damnation. The benign father God wants otherwise, he wants his son (man) to be soaked with spiritual sap and divine light , to be
enlightened , to glorify his father’s name . For this such an arrangement is
made by God. “The Pulley” reminds us the story of ‘Pandora’, the first mortal
woman, who was given by Jupiter a
wonderful box , “Pandora’s Box”, containing all benedictions packed. When the
box was opened all the blessings slipped out , but not the blessing of ‘Hope’
as it was kept at the bottom in the box. So, the mortal being man lives with
all hope that never finds ulence (maturation) in man’s life.
Ref:
University (NSOU) study guide.
