Clothing

Use in the book

To be clothed with the heavens is to receive cosmic glory as intimately as one's own dress. Conversely, becoming a child requires disrobing false colours and unclothing evil habits. The metaphor has no fixed moral direction: what is put on matters. A preference for leather clothes in the narrative of study expresses sufficient provision rather than fashionable display. Later the soul is to clothe itself with patience, faith, and courage, ornaments exceeding money and precious metal. Traherne thus turns a familiar marker of social distinction into a test of worth. True clothing enables or expresses life; false adornment substitutes an acquired appearance for the riches of the person.

Places to read

1. I.29The heavens become the enjoyer’s figurative clothing.
2. III.5False colours and evil habits must be stripped from the soul.
3. III.46Leather clothes figure a modest sufficiency that preserves time for study.
4. IV.89Patience, faith, and courage are ornaments more precious than money.

In this edition

“Habit” can suggest both settled disposition and clothing, but this article does not assume a pun in every occurrence. The explicit disrobing and clothing verbs carry the transfer.