From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordFirmament names the sky or celestial expanse, especially in scriptural descriptions of the ordered heavens.
- In TraherneTraherne uses the sun’s presence among the stars as an analogy for the soul’s wider power of presence.
- In this editionThe word carries an inherited biblical and cosmological register.
- A place to beginThe sun’s shining through the firmament prepares an argument about the soul’s greater capacity.
Meaning
Firmament names the sky or celestial expanse, especially in scriptural descriptions of the ordered heavens. It gathers the field in which stars are seen.
Use in the book
Traherne uses the sun’s presence among the stars as an analogy for the soul’s wider power of presence. The scriptural occurrence has a complementary role: the heavens display workmanship and communicate glory without ordinary speech. In each setting the visible expanse prompts an account of relation and intelligibility, rather than remaining a remote background to earthly affairs.
Places to read
In this edition
The word carries an inherited biblical and cosmological register. These passages do not by themselves require the reader to infer a separately argued theory of a solid celestial shell.