From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordTo enlarge is to make more spacious or extensive.
- In TraherneLove enlarges because another person brings a world of concerns and treasures into the lover’s life.
- In this editionThe heading gathers attested verbs rather than an authorial technical noun.
- A place to beginLoving expands the soul and brings the treasures of beloved persons into its enjoyment.
Meaning
To enlarge is to make more spacious or extensive. Applied to the soul, it describes an increase in the range and vitality of understanding, affection, and participation.
Use in the book
Love enlarges because another person brings a world of concerns and treasures into the lover’s life. The same principle extends across history: attending to worshippers in many ages makes their joys and adorations present, freeing the reader from confinement to a single time. Objects likewise give the mind a scale corresponding to what it apprehends. This is not bodily expansion but an account of intellectual and affective presence. Its measure is the scope of genuine relations, not the intensity of self-importance.
Places to read
In this edition
The heading gathers attested verbs rather than an authorial technical noun. “Enlarge” does not imply that the body occupies more space; the relevant powers are thought, love, and presence to objects.