Thomas Traherne Poems – Five Favorites by the English Poet-Priest!

Today (Oct. 10) marks the anniversary of the death of English poet and priest, Thomas Traherne…

We honor the occasion with five excellent Thomas Traherne poems …

Thomas Traherne (1636? – 1674) was an English poet, clergyman, theologian, and religious writer.  Traherne’s poems frequently explore the glory of creation and what he perceived 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.  (via Wikipedia)

*** Books by Thomas Traherne

 

Where did Thomas Traherne live?

Thomas Traherne lived in the United Kingdom, and was educated there at Oxford University.

When did Thomas Traherne Live?

Born c. 1636 Hereford, England and died 27 September 1674 in Teddington, Middlesex, England

What is Thomas Traherne famous for?

Thomas Traherne was an English priest, poet, and theologian. 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. (Wikipedia)

 

Of Contentment
Thomas Traherne

Found in:
The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne
(FREE Ebook Available via Google Books)

 
Contentment is a sleepy thing
If it in Death alone must die ;
A quiet Mind is worse than Poverty,
Unless it from Enjoyment spring !
That’s Blessedness alone that makes a King !
Wherein the Joys and Treasures are so great,
They all the powers of the Soul employ,
And fill it with a Work compleat.
While it doth all enjoy.
True Joys alone Contentment do inspire,
Enrich Content and make our Courage higher.
Content alone’s a dead and silent Stone ;

The real life of Bliss
Is Glory reigning in a Throne,

Where all Enjoyment is.
The Soul of Man is so inclin’d to see,
Without his Treasures no man’s Soul can be.
Nor rest content Uncrown’d !
Desire and Love
Must in the height of all their Rapture move.

Where there is true Felicity.
Employment is the very life and ground
Of Life itself ; whose pleasant Motion is
The form of Bliss :
All Blessedness a life with Glory Crown’d :
Life! Life is all; in its most full extent
Stretcht out to all things, and with all Content!

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IMAGE CREDIT: Thomas Traherne (Stained Glass at Hereford Cathedral by Tom Denny). Creative Commons License via Wikimedia Commons.

 
UPDATED July 2020: To include Thomas Traherne FAQ