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Thomas Traherne

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Thomas Traherne (/trəˈhɑːrn/; 1636 or 1637 – c. 27 September 1674) was an English poet, clergyman, theologian, and religious writer. The intense, scholarly spirituality in his writings has led to his being commemorated by some parts of the Anglican Communion on 10 October (the anniversary of his burial in 1674) or on September 27.

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The work for which Traherne is best known today is the Centuries of Meditations, a collection of short paragraphs in which he reflects on Christian life and ministry, philosophy, happiness, desire and childhood. This was first published in 1908 after having been rediscovered in manuscript ten years earlier. His poetry likewise was first published in 1903 and 1910 (The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne, B.D. and Poems of Felicity). His prose works include Roman Forgeries (1673), Christian Ethics (1675), and A Serious and Patheticall Contemplation of the Mercies of God (1699).

Traherne's writings frequently explore the glory of creation and what he saw as his intimate relationship with God. His writing conveys an ardent, almost childlike love of God, and is compared to similar themes in the works of later poets William Blake, Walt Whitman, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. His love for the natural world is frequently expressed in his works by a treatment of nature that evokes Romanticism—two centuries before the Romantic movement.

Biography
Early life and education
Traherne's birth and baptism are not recorded in parish registers. According to antiquarian Anthony à Wood (1632–1695), he was a "shoemaker's son of Hereford" born in either 1636 or 1637. Dobell 1903, p. xvi identifies this shoemaker as John Traherne (b. 1566). However, other sources say that Thomas was the son of Philipp Traherne (or Trehearne) (1568–1645), a local innkeeper and twice Mayor of Hereford, and his third wife, Mary Lane.

Traherne writes about his childhood, which included a natural wonder at and appreciation of the world around him, in Centuries of Meditations, and other poetry.

Traherne matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford in 1652 and received his degree in 1656
Traherne was educated at Hereford Cathedral School and matriculated in Brasenose College, Oxford, on 2 April 1652, receiving his baccalaureate degree on 13 October 1656. Five years later he was promoted to the degree of Master of Arts (Oxon.) on 6 November 1661, and he received a Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) on 11 December 1669.

Traherne Thomas Works Centuries Degree September Writings October