Table · Lexicon · Diotimos

From the book

Centuries of Meditations

Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordTable may mean an ordinary household furnishing, but a painter’s table is a prepared panel or ground upon which a picture is made.
In TraherneThe familiar walk and table establish a measure of intimacy: the reader ought to know God’s ways through all ages as readily as the objects of daily life.
In this editionTable in V.5 means the painter’s prepared support, not a dining table or a tabulation of information.
A place to beginThe ordinary table supplies a standard of familiar acquaintance.

Meaning

Table may mean an ordinary household furnishing, but a painter’s table is a prepared panel or ground upon which a picture is made.

Use in the book

The familiar walk and table establish a measure of intimacy: the reader ought to know God’s ways through all ages as readily as the objects of daily life. The comparison enlarges familiarity rather than supplying a theory of domestic furnishings.

The Fifth Century uses a different sense. Infinite space is a painter’s table adequate to the scope of the intended picture. The analogy stresses the fitting relation between field, intention, and completed work; an unfilled or unfinished surface would suggest a defect in the artist. God’s works exceed painted representations in reality and glory, and their further excellence is that the spectator enjoys them as his own possessions.

Places to read

I.30The ordinary table supplies a standard of familiar acquaintance.
V.5The painter’s table figures the field prepared for divine works.

In this edition

Table in V.5 means the painter’s prepared support, not a dining table or a tabulation of information. The two cited uses should be distinguished rather than forced into one allegory.

Source note

Primary text: I.30, V.5. No 2026 editorial notes used.