Read the following seventeenth-century poem, 'The Pulley' by George Herbert, carefully before choosing your answer:
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 world's riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.'
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
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 least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.'
Which of the following best describes how the speaker uses the conceit of the 'glass of blessings' and the withholding of 'rest' to characterize the relationship between God and humanity?
- AIt details a literal setting in which God physically mixes tangible elements in a cup to create human anatomy.
- It portrays humanity's restlessness as a deliberate divine design that ensures their eventual return to God.Answer
- CIt depicts the 'glass' and the 'jewel' as unrelated symbols representing the conflict between worldly vanity and spiritual humility.
- DIt expresses the poet's own biographical exhaustion and personal frustration with his duties as an Anglican priest.
- EIt shows God's refusal to grant rest as an act of perpetual hostility, overlooking the shift in the final stanza toward a cooperative reconciliation between creator and creature.