The Pulley Appreciation Summary Class 10 English KUMARBHARATI
The Pulley Appreciation : The Pulley poem is written by the great poet George Herbert. The Pulley is about the creation of God which is Man. God has created the Human being and He blessed all things to Human being in their life except Rest. The title of the poem The Pulley is symbolic and it represents Rest in a Human being’s life. God keep the rest so that Human beings come to God to pray for rest in their life.
The rest (peace) is the things that pull the man towards God just like the function of Pulley that is why the title of the poem is The Pulley. The poem, The Pulley will be asked to solve the extract and to write an appreciation of the poem for the 10th class.
Reference:
- The Pulley is the poem that gives reference to the story of the creation of Man in the opening of the Bible, the first chapter of the Book of GENESIS.
Introduction: The Pulley Appreciation
George Herbert (1593-1633) was a Welsh poet. He was a priest by profession. He wrote religious poems with a lot of imagery and conceits. The poem exhibits a strange but two way relationship between God and his worshippers. Though He has showered / bestowed upon His worshipper with all His blessings, somewhere He holds them up with a pulley drawn, to be grateful to Him in all their endeavours.
God gives so many precious gifts to the devotee but at the same time God also expects something in return! What does He expect? Why does He withhold?
“The Pulley” shows how God lifts man towards Himself with the pulley of restlessness. What is distinctly metaphysical about the poem is that a religious notion is conveyed through a secular scientific image.
Poem: The Pulley
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 worlds riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flow’d, then wisdom, honour, pleasure:
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone of all His treasures
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 last,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.
Glossary:
riches : wealth bounties
dispersed : scattered
contract : collect together
perceiving : noticing, becoming conscious of
bestow on : give as a gift to
jewel : precious valuable thing, (here)contentment (rest)
adore : love very much
repining restlessness: continuous anxiety due to dissatisfaction
weary : very tired
toss : (here) bring, throw close
Summary/Explanation: The Pulley Appreciation
First Stanza:
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 worlds riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.
- In the first stanza, the poet tells that first when God made Man (Human Being) at that time God has a glass of blessing with Him. He said that they should pour all blessings on Man and make the human being’s world rich. There are riches things in the world which are scattered in the world and collect all the wealth bounties into one place which is Man.
Second Stanza:
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flow’d, then wisdom, honour, pleasure:
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone of all His treasures
Rest in the bottom lay.
- In the second stanza, the poet tells that when God Started pouring the glass of blessing so at first God gave strength to the Man then Beauty then Wisdom then Honour (Self-respect), and pleasure and when almost all things are over from His treasures the God stopped pouring and noticing with great consciously that only a few drops have remained at the bottom of the glass that is Rest (peace).
Third stanza:
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.
- In the third stanza, the poet tells that God said that if He should give such a precious and valuable gift that is Rest to His creature (Man), the Man would love very much to His gifts instead of God. God thought that there is nothing rest in nature and even Man will not consider the importance of God who has created such nature. So both God and Man should be losers because God will not be considered by His importance and Man has not any weary in life so the life of Man will be miserable.
Forth stanza:
Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness:
Let him be rich and weary, that at last,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.
- In the last, the poet tells that God keeps the rest with Him and decided not to give to Man so God Keep Man with repining restlessness that is keep Man with continuous anxiety due to dissatisfaction. God thought that Man becomes rich but He is always weary and due to weary and dissatisfaction it brings Man to Me just like the Pulley.
- Thus, that s why God didn’t give the Rest to Human being it is because Human being always keep in their mind that they are the creation of God and all things and riches of the world are given by God so, Human beings are not given Rest by God. Due to restlessness and anxiety at least Man will come to God and always remind that they are the creation of God.
Appreciation: The Pulley Appreciation
- The poem, The Pulley is written by the great poet George Herbert. The title of the poem “The Pulley is apt and suitable to the theme of the poem. It is about the story of the creation of Man by God. God created Human beings and gave all the things from the universe except Rest (peace). The Pulley is the poem that gives reference to the story of the creation of Man in the opening of the Bible, the first chapter of the Book of GENESIS.
- The theme/ central idea of the poem The Pulley is about how God created Man and gave some blessings to man. The theme is that God made Man and He poured all blessings on his creature (Man). The blessings are strength, wisdom, Honour (self-respect), and pleasure (happiness) except Rest (peace) because God thought that if He give the rest to Man, he will never connect with God, and God wants that His creation should connect with Him so that’s why the Rest keep away from the Man by God.
- The poem The Pulley has fine Rhyming words and a rhyming scheme. The rhyming scheme of the poem is a-b-a-b-a etc. The main figures of speech in the poem are Metaphor, Inversion, Antithesis, Pun, Paradox, etc. The poem has four stanzas and each has five lines.
- My favourite line of the poem is –Let us (said He) “pour on him all we can.” Because God literary pour all his blessings on Human Beings and due to God’s blessings Human Beings are living their life. God gave blessings at the time of the creation of Man and Man should have always reverence towards God.
- I like the poem very much because it is a story of how God made a Man and gave all his blessings except Rest (peace). God did not bless Rest to Human Beings because Human Beings should connect with God. Rest is the Pulley of God which pulls Man towards God.
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