POEM EXPLANATION: The Pulley (Unit Two 2.4)

🌟✨ The Pulley ✨🌟
✍️ – George Herbert

🔹 Line 1: When God at first made Man,
➡️ Made means created.
➡️ Man means a human being.
📖 Simple Meaning:
A very long time ago, when the world was new, God created the first human being. God thought carefully because He wanted to make humans special and happy.

🔹 Line 2: Having a glass of blessings standing by;
➡️ Glass of blessings means a cup full of good and special gifts.
➡️ Blessings means good things like strength, beauty, and happiness.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God had a big glass or cup full of many wonderful gifts. These were special things like strength, wisdom, beauty, and joy, which He wanted to give to humans.

🔹 Line 3: Let us (said He) “pour on him all we can:”
➡️ Pour means to give or share.
➡️ All we can means everything that is possible.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God decided to give humans all the best gifts from the cup. He wanted humans to have everything nice that would make their lives full of happiness.

🔹 Line 4: Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie,
➡️ World’s riches means the best things in the world.
➡️ Dispersed means spread out everywhere.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God said that all the treasures and good things that were spread all over the world should be collected and given together to humans, so they don’t have to search for them.

🔹 Line 5: Contract into a span.
➡️ Contract means gather and bring together.
➡️ Span means a small space.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God wanted to collect all the good things into one small place — like putting all the toys into a small basket — so that humans could have everything easily.

🔹 Line 6: So strength first made a way;
➡️ Strength means power and energy.
➡️ Made a way means came out first.
📖 Simple Meaning:
The first gift that God gave to humans was strength. He gave them strong bodies so they could work, move, and live happily.

🔹 Line 7: Then beauty flow’d, then wisdom, honour, pleasure:
➡️ Beauty means looking nice.
➡️ Flow’d means moved easily.
➡️ Wisdom means smart thinking.
➡️ Honour means getting respect.
➡️ Pleasure means feeling very happy.
📖 Simple Meaning:
After giving strength, God gave beauty so that humans would look nice, wisdom so that they could think smartly, honour so others would respect them, and pleasure so they could feel joyful and enjoy life.

🔹 Line 8: When almost all was out, God made a stay,
➡️ Made a stay means stopped.
📖 Simple Meaning:
When God had given almost all the gifts, He stopped. He did not pour out everything from the cup. He kept one thing inside.

🔹 Line 9: Perceiving that alone of all His treasures
➡️ Perceiving means seeing or noticing.
➡️ Treasures means very special gifts.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God noticed that one very important gift was still left inside the cup. He thought carefully about what to do with it.

🔹 Line 10: Rest in the bottom lay.
➡️ Rest means peace and full satisfaction.
➡️ Lay means stayed there.
📖 Simple Meaning:
At the bottom of the cup, the gift of ‘rest’ — which means feeling peaceful and fully happy — was still there. God had not given it yet.

🔹 Line 11: For if I should (said He)
➡️ Should means if He decided to.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God thought, “If I also give the gift of rest to humans, what will happen?” He was thinking very carefully about this.

🔹 Line 12: Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
➡️ Bestow means to give.
➡️ Jewel means a very precious thing.
➡️ Creature means the human being He made.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God thought that if He gave humans this special gift of rest (like a precious jewel), it might change how humans behaved.

🔹 Line 13: He would adore my gifts instead of me,
➡️ Adore means love very much.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God understood that if humans had everything, including rest, they would love the gifts very much but forget to love and remember God who gave them all these gifts.

🔹 Line 14: And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature.
➡️ Rest in Nature means enjoy the world and forget about God.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God thought that humans would become busy enjoying the beautiful world and forget to thank and remember God who made everything.

🔹 Line 15: So both should losers be.
➡️ Losers means people who lose something important.
📖 Simple Meaning:
If humans forgot God, both humans and God would lose something special. Humans would miss a deeper happiness, and God would miss the love of humans.

🔹 Line 16: Yet let him keep the rest,
➡️ Rest means the other gifts.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God decided to let humans keep all the other wonderful gifts He had already given — like strength, beauty, and wisdom.

🔹 Line 17: But keep them with repining restlessness:
➡️ Repining restlessness means always feeling a little unhappy and wanting more.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God made humans feel a little restless inside — even though they had so many good things — so that they would feel something is missing.

🔹 Line 18: Let him be rich and weary, that at last,
➡️ Rich means having many good things.
➡️ Weary means feeling tired and sad inside.
📖 Simple Meaning:
God let humans have all the wealth and good things, but also allowed them to feel tired and unhappy sometimes, so they would realize they needed something more.

🔹 Line 19: If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
➡️ Goodness means doing good things.
➡️ Weariness means feeling tired and not peaceful inside.
📖 Simple Meaning:
If humans do not come back to God because they are good, then their tiredness, sadness, and empty feeling will push them to look for real peace — which only God can give.

🔹 Line 20: May toss him to my breast.
➡️ Toss means to bring quickly.
➡️ Breast means chest — showing God’s love and care.
📖 Simple Meaning:
Finally, when humans feel lost and tired, they will come running into God’s loving arms. There they will find real love, peace, and happiness forever.