From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordResentments are deep feelings, inward responses, or a person’s felt apprehension of things.
- In TraherneTo enter the resentments of souls in other ages is to share their worship and joy rather than remain confined to one’s immediate business.
- In this editionThe 2026 note to III.92 reports Dobell’s historical gloss and distinguishes the word from indignation.
- A place to beginOthers’ resentments help enlarge the reader across kingdoms and ages.
Meaning
Resentments are deep feelings, inward responses, or a person’s felt apprehension of things. The noun here does not carry its usual modern restriction to grievance or bitterness.
Use in the book
To enter the resentments of souls in other ages is to share their worship and joy rather than remain confined to one’s immediate business. Divine resentments likewise mean adopting a sense of things consonant with God’s, so that nations appear within an enlarged vision. Understanding David’s resentments requires knowing the excellence of the objects that move him. The word thus joins feeling to judgment: the emotional depth is intelligible through what is valued and loved. Reducing it to displeasure would reverse the direction of these invitations to communion.
Places to read
In this edition
The 2026 note to III.92 reports Dobell’s historical gloss and distinguishes the word from indignation. The edition’s explanation should not be mistaken for a new feeling attributed to David.
Source note
Primary text: I.85, III.84, III.92; historical gloss: 2026 edition notes to III.84 and III.92.