The pulley appreciation
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The Pulley by George Herbert is a religious, metaphysical poem which centers on the ‘pulley’ as a prime conceit in the poem. Herbert wants to unveil the truth that why human beings are so restless and unsatisfying despite having all the things he wants.
The title of the poem the pulley is a conceit that carries the theme of the poem. In pulley from the mechanical point of view to operate it a kind of power and force has to be applied to one end to lift the object of the other end. The force applied makes a difference to the weight that is being lifted. The ‘rest’ that god keeps with him is the leverage that draws the mankind towards god. Two quite different objects are forcefully compared here, one from the pure physics that is pulley and the other from the pure religion that is God. The relationship of man and god is compared with the metaphorical pulley. To pull mankind back to the God, back to his origin, God keeps man away from the ‘rest.’ This can only be possible in the metaphysical conceits. So the title is thematic.