Thomas Traherne | Childhood, Vision, and the Contemplative Act
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- 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.
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Thanks for a video on Traherne, such an uderappreciated poet.
An excellent presentation, thanks 👍
I think besides commentary on poetry this channel is great for being introduced to new poetry. I am still reading The Retreat By Henry Vaughan.
Thank you mr Adam for your wonderful cultural literary channel. As always iam gathering main information about topics you mentioned briefly here it’s Thomas traherne ( 1636 or 1637 - 16 74 ) he was English poet , Anglican cleric , theologian, religious writer. Intense , scholarly spirituality in his writings has led to his being commemorate by some parts of Anglican communion’s ten of October (anniversary of his burial ) , 27 of September ( date of his death). His notable work centuries of meditations . His style metaphysical poetry, mediations, theology . His writings frequently explore glory of creation and what he saw as his intimate relation with god . His writings convey ardent almost childlike love of god . He is compared to similar themes in works of later poets such as William Blake , Whitman, Gerard Manley Hopkins. He is often considered as last of metaphysical poets , which included such as major figures as John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, majority of his poetry remained unknown until 1896 , when two of his manuscripts were discovered by chance in london bookstall .
Thanks so much for these videos! I was wondering, have you written any poems yourself? I’d love to read them :D
Adam there's a pome I'm looking for...I heard it in a documentary called in search for Shakespeare...a young lad is reading it .. would you know the name of the pome please ..I looked 4 it and just can't find it anywhere.
Write a poem called "Thomas Traherne at Capistrano."
A nice sense of melody to his lines, but leans too heavily on listing abstractions. For my own work in The Wild Sonnets, I often land on alliterative pairings that bring together one physical and one abstract subject which act as body and spirit to a moment or topic. I've just posted a new Wild Sonnets: Out Loud episode on my channel, which may demonstrate. But that said, this series offers deeply intelligent commentary on the poet's work.