TRAHERNE, THOMAS (1637?-1674)

This article appears in Volume V27, Page 155 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TOO-TUM

TRAHERNE, THOMAS (1637?-1674) , English writer, was, according to Anthony a

Wood

, a " shoemaker's son of

Hereford

HEREFORD

." He entered Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1652, and after receiving his degree in 1656 took holy orders. In the following year he was appointed

rector

RECTOR (Lat. for " ruler," " guide," &c., from regere, " rule ")

of Credenhill, near

Hereford

HEREFORD

, and in 1661 received his M.A. degree. He found a good patron in Sir Orlando Bridgeman, lord keeper of the seals from 1667 to 1672. Traherne became his domestic chaplain and also " minister " of Teddington. He died at Bridgeman's

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

at Teddington on or about the 27th of September 1674. He led, we are told, a simple and devout life, and was well read in primitive antiquity and the fathers. His

prose

PROSE

works are Roman Forgeries (1673), Christian Ethics (1675), and A Serious and Patheticall Contemplation of of God (1699). His poems have a curious history.discovery included, beside the poems, four complete "'Centuries of Meditation," short paragraphs embodying reflexions on religion and morals. Some of these, evidently autobiographical in character, describe a childhood from which the "

glory

GLORY (through the O. Fr. glorie, modern gloire, from Lat. gloria, cognate with Gr. KXebs, abets)

and the dream " was slow to depart. Of the power of nature to inform the mind with beauty, and the ecstatic harmony of a child with the natural world, the earlier poems, which contain his best

work

WORK

,. are full. In their manner, as in their matter, they remind the reader of Blake and Words-worth. Traherne has at his best an excellence all his own, but there can be no reasonable doubt that he was familiar both with the poems of

Herbert

and of Vaughan. The poems on childhood may well have been inspired by Vaughan's lines entitled The

Retreat

RETREAT (O. Fr. retrete, mod. retraite, from Lat. retrahere, to draw back)

. His poetry is essentially metaphysical and his workmanship is uneven, but the collection contains passages of great beauty.
See Bertram Dobell's editions of the Poetical Works (1906) and Centuries of Meditation (1908).

End of Article: TRAHERNE, THOMAS (1637?-1674)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/TOO_TUM/TRAHERNE_THOMAS_1637_1674_.html">
TRAHERNE, THOMAS (1637?-1674)
</a>

(Previous)
TRAFFIC

(Next)
TRAILL, HENRY DUFF (1842-1900)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email