Thomas Traherne | Childhood, Vision, and the Contemplative Act

We now come to Thomas Traherne, whose poetry has been celebrated for its scintillating visions of childhood and its crystalline, spiritual imagery that shocks like cold spring water. Unlike Mary Sidney Herbert, Traherne is not a master lyrical technician. If we appreciate Traherne’s poetry the way we appreciated Mary Herbert’s poetry, we would be disappointed. In him is little subtle wit and hardly the kind of formal intricacies we saw in Mary Herbert’s verse. Yet, different poets call for different kinds of appreciation.

The value of Traherne’s poetry is that of its unique spiritual vision coupled with unprecedented representations of devotional experience in verse. His representations and lyrical enactments of wonder and ecstasy I think are unparalleled. No other poet gives us such electric transitions, such diaphanous descriptions of spiritual elation.

In this lecture, I closely read his poems through the lens of his own profound spiritual vision. At the end of the video, I’ll provide some recommendations for further reading.