Thomas Traherne

Thomas Traherne , 1636?-1674, English poet and prose writer, one of the metaphysical poets . He was schooled at Brasenose College, Oxford, and was chaplain to the Lord Keeper from 1667 until his death. His writings express an ardent, childlike love of God and a firm belief in man's relation to the divine. Although Roman Forgeries and Christian Ethicks were published in 1673 and 1675 respectively, his finest work was lost for many years. In 1896 a manuscript of his poetry and prose was discovered in a London bookstall and subsequently was published as Poems (1903) and Centuries of Meditations (1908).

Bibliography: See his poems ed. by A. Ridler (1966); biography by G. I. Wade (1944, repr. 1969); study by A. L. Clements (1969).

Traherne, Thomas (c.1637–74), Anglican clergyman and Metaphysical poet. His poetry is remarkable for a penetrating sense of the glory of nature and childhood. His poems were not published until 1903; they were followed in 1908 by Centuries of Meditations, reflections on ethics and religion which proved more attractive than his verse. Recently various other works have been recovered, including Commentaries of Heaven and Select Meditations.