SOURCE: Osborn, James M. “Thomas Traherne: Revelations in Meditation.” In The Author in His Work: Essays on a Problem in Criticism, edited by Louis L. Martz and Aubrey Williams, pp. 213-28. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978.

In the following essay, Osborn examines Traherne's Meditations for biographical material about the author.

The manuscript pages of Thomas Traherne's Meditations, written for private purposes and for the eyes of his intimate friends, abound with autobiographical passages. Paradoxically, these passages supply meager biographical details, for Traherne concerned himself primarily with the relationship between God and man. His trim prose conveys clearly his ideas on his ethical and philosophical system. He describes feelingly how the soul of an individual may merge with the Divine Spirit and be led into the state of felicity. Traherne's positive affirmations are often inspiring, but few concrete details emerge about his own life.

Fortunately the outline of his...