A Poet Comes Home: Thomas Traherne, Theologian in a New Century

Anglican Theological Review, Spring 2004 by Inge, Denise

Thomas Traherne, the seventeenth-century Anglican priest and poet best known for his writings on early childhood innocence and the glory of creation, was a nature-loving mystic and an inveterate optimist. Often discussed as a metaphysical poet, a mystic, even as a heretic, he has rarely been taken seriously as a theologian. But important manuscript discoveries made in 1997 have sparked a new interest in Traherne, and the received understanding of his work is rapidly changing. A historic voice with a contemporary message, Traherne speaks directly to the spiritual needs of our day. This article gives an overview of previous literary and theological studies, surveys recent work in the field, and presents a new reading of Traherne. It is a comprehensive introduction to an Anglican divine who inspired such spiritual "greats" as C. S. Lewis and Thomas Merton, and is poised to have a significant influence on Christian thinking in this new century.

Thomas Traherne (1637?-1674) is a seventeenth-century Anglican priest and poet being rediscovered. In the past six years there have been announcements of new manuscript discoveries in the Times Literary Supplement and in Poetry Nation Review; he has been featured in national newspapers and on national radio in England; on both sides of the Atlantic new articles and essays are being solicited and anthologies commissioned, and the Oxford University Press has plans for a new critical edition of his work. His status is so changed that in the newly commissioned Oxford Dictionary of National Biography to be published in 2004, in which he was formerly classed as a "missing person," his allocation of lines is being increased fivefold. If there were a portrait of Traherne extant it could be published in the Dictionary alongside those of Wordsworth and Blake. What has caused all this stir?

In 1996-1997 two new Traherne manuscripts were discovered, one at the Folger Library in Washington, D.C., and one in the Lambeth Palace Library in London. The Folger Manuscript, discovered by Julia Smith and Laetitia Yeandle, is an unfinished epic poem (1,800 lines) entitled The Ceremonial Law.1 The Lambeth Manuscript, discovered by the late Jeremy Maule of Trinity College, Cambridge, is 952 pages long and contains five separate prose works.2 The Ceremonial Law is didactic and biblical; the Lambeth Manuscript contains serious theological debate as well as explorations of the soul and guidelines for the spiritual life. The cumulative effect of these finds is to redefine Traherne as a serious theologian.

Traherne's influence in the field of Christian spirituality has long been recognized. He was loved by C. S. Lewis, who described Traherne's Centuries of Meditations as "almost the most beautiful book in English," from which he "could go on quoting forever." Lewis's letters show he read and reread the Centuries over the space of ten years. Traherne was also a favorite of Thomas Merton, who cites him numerous times in his journal and in his essays. Remarkably versatile and adaptable, Traherne has appeared in a range of publications from seventeenth-century anthologies, academic tomes, and theological journals, to the most unlikely "Hippy Love" website. He has been discussed as a metaphysical poet, a pre-Romantic, a mystic, a heretic, a nature-loving optimist, a naive baby, but rarely as a real theologian.

Traherne is perhaps best known for his writings on childhood, early innocence, and the capacity of the human soul. "How like an Angel came I down!/How Bright are all Things here!" he writes in "Wonder," a poem about early innocence. This is the new Eden, repeated again every time a new child is born. For Traherne's child is always a new Adam, made in God's image, placed in a glorious world and full of capacity. Traherne writes in his well-known poem "My Spirit":

My Naked Simple Life was I,

I felt no Dross nor Matter in my Soul,

No Brims nor Borders, such as in a Bowl

We see, My Essence was Capacitie.3

Traherne is fascinated by what it means to be made in Gods image, a creature full of infinity dwelling in eternity, a living soul. And he is convinced of the innocence of the infant. "An empty book is like an Infants soul," he writes in the first Century, "in which anything may be written." Partly because of this view of early innocence and partly because of his insistence that the world is good and that we are intended for happiness in it, he has been dubbed the "Poet of Felicity." Traherne is famous for his admonitions to enjoy the world. "You never enjoy the world aright," he claims, "till you see how a sand exhibiteth the wisdom and power of God."4 Or more flamboyantly:

Your enjoyment of the world is never right, till every morning you awake in Heaven; see yourself in your Fathers Palace; and look upon the skies, the earth, and the air as Celestial Joys: having such a reverend esteem of all, as if you were among the Angels. The bride of a monarch, in her husbands chamber, hath no such causes of delight as you.5