Discuss "The Pulley." Please identify and explain the central conceit.

Like other poems by George Herbert, this poem is based
around a central conceit that adds so much to the meaning of the poem and what the poet
is trying to convey. The poem basically talks about the way in which God chose to shower
us with all forms of blessing when he created us, but held back from giving us
everything, choosing to not give us the gift of "Rest." He supports this decision by
saying:

He
would adore my gifts in stead of me,

And rest in Nature,
not the God of Nature:

So both should losers
be.

If man was given the gift
of Rest, God believes, he would be perfectly content in what he had and would not need
to look up to God for true rest and blessing. The poem is based on a famous saying from
St. Augustine, who said:

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Thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are
restless until they find their rest in
thee.

The conceit of the
pulley comes in in the final stanza, in which the imagery of the pulley comes in to
describe the way in which God showers man with blessing and how, ironically, not having
rest will help man to come closer to God on the other side of the
pulley:

Yet
let him keep the rest,

But keep them with repining
restlessnesse:

Let him be rich and wearie, that at
least,

If goodness leade him not, yet
wearinesse

May tosse him to my
breast.

We are not given
rest, but our restlessness will drag us down on one rope, causing us to rise on the
other rope, towards God, who has wisely withheld rest so we need to go up to Him to
receive it.