Who is Christopher Smart? Also known as Kit Smart? A British poet - born in the early 1700s - He was educated at Cambridge, he got married, he was known for his fluency in Latin, he did very well for himself. Until the 1750s when he began to "suffer" from a form of religious hysteria. I put suffer in quotes, because I'm not really sure he DID suffer - it was just that the people around him found him intolerable, thought that his constant adoration of God made him insane. He began to pray incessantly. He would drop to his knees in the middle of the street, and pray. We know this because of what his good friend Samuel Johnson wrote about him. Johnson loved Christopher Smart. Smart eventually was put into a mental institution - which in the 1700s had to be horrific. He was in various mental institutions for over 10 years. While on the inside, he wrote the poems that we know him by today. Or - not everybody. He's barely even studied - English majors probably don't know who he is - I just think it's a shame. Because I find his stuff just ... marvelous. Contemporary, stream-of-conscious, eloquent - I don't even know what to compare it to. His religious hysteria did not manifest itself in gloom and doom, or evangelical ranting and raving. His hysteria manifested itself in an overwhelming joy of all of God's creations. He was in a constant state of awe and thankfulness ... every single thing he saw was evidence of God's love, which was why he had to keep going around falling to his knees, and praising God. I praise God for the bricks in the street! I praise God for the dust motes! Praise you God for the dewfall in the morning! He couldn't get through 2 seconds without a prayer. I have to admit - if he were my friend, I would find this behavior quite annoying - but I don't know that I would want someone locked up in a mental institution over it.
Dr. Johnson had the following wonderful thing to say about Christopher Smart:
"I do not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I'd as lief pray with Kit Smart as anyone else. Another charge was that he did not love clean linen, and I have no passion for it."
Michael Schmidt, author of "Lives of the Poets" says, in regards to Smart, "He has few heirs". I would agree with that. I love Christopher Smart - and yes, I would say that he pretty much stands alone.
He wrote quite a bit - but what he is probably most known for is his poem in praise to his cat Joffrey. It's part of a much longer piece, known as Jubilate Agno . The poem as a whole is almost like a long diary entry - filled with prayers, and praise, and philosophy, and observations. Again - I don't know who to compare him to. William Blake? Allen Ginsberg? Kinda. But not really. Ginsberg actually did reference Kit Smart as a huge influence on him - and it shows. I can hear the echoes of his stuff in Ginsberg.
I ADORE the praise to his cat Joffrey. Look at how Smart sees God in his cat. It's not that he mythologizes his cat. It's not that he sees everything abstractly - it's not that he is disconnected from a real earth-bound experience - like so many religious ya-hoos are. It's actually the opposite. He doesn't see in his cat a SYMBOL of God's glory. Joffrey literally IS God made manifest. Kit Smart was always overwhelmed by the GLORY of God. The LOVE of God. And you can see it in his poem about his cat. When I read it, it reminds me to pay attention to the simplicity of life, the small pleasures, the sensoral moments of grace. Breathing, stretching, laughing, eating. All of this should be celebrated. Kit Smart was not un-connected from the earth (again, like so many religious fanatics are) - he was tuned in to the sensory world: He observes his cat Joffrey behave as cats do. And he praises Joffrey for his cat-ness.
I love this poem. Here it is. And happy birthday, Kit Smart. I wish the world had treated you a bit better. But thanks for your writing.
Here is the poem for Joffrey. God. I just find it so inspiring to read. LOVE IT!! Cat-lovers - you will dig this poem. This cat from the 1700s just comes to life, with all his cat behavior. Cats never change. To quote Smart: "For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes". hahahaha
Enjoy! This is one of my favorite poems.
For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having consider'd God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he's a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord's poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually--Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.
Wonderful poem - thank you, Sheila! I love my kitties.
Posted by: Laura(southernxyl) at April 11, 2006 9:02 AMI've seen this quoted in those kitty-a-day calendars, but never knew the story behind the man. Fascinating.
I'm a little surprised that you didn't name-check Gerard Manley Hopkins in this context, but that's cool. Kit Smart was definitely on to something - I've read in several spots that creation properly gives glory to God when it is most like itself.
Posted by: Nightfly at April 11, 2006 9:50 AMI love Gerald Manley Hopkins - and I didn't mention him because I don't really see the similarity in their verses, except for the fact that they both write about God. I'm talking about stylistic heirs, Nightfly, not topical similarity. Read the rest of Christopher Smart's stuff and you'll see what I mean. Hopkins is much more of a formalist. His verses are (in my opinion) perfectly constructed. But Smart is a stream-of-conscious guy - I would only compare him to Blake and to Ginsberg, like I said.
The other thing that is truly astonishing about Smart's poetry is that he does not appear to have been influenced by any of his peers - although he had some great poets as friends.
His work reads as though it could have been written today. He is a time-travleler, artistically - He truly was uninfluenced by anyone.
This so rarely happens as to really stick out. Poetic trends come in clusters ... the huddle of confessional poets in the 50s and 60s, for example. Robert Lowell influenced Plath, influenced Sexton ... they all began writing not in the same way - you can tell a Sexton poem from a Plath poem - but the STYLE is similar.
Christopher Smart's long rambling emotional poems have no peers in his day. There is literally no one to compare him to. It's really quite amazing.
Posted by: red at April 11, 2006 10:29 AMWilliam Blake is the closest, at least on the timeline - to being his "peer" - but he came after Smart. They overlap a tiny bit - Blake was born in 1757 - but Smart was nearing the end of his life by that point.
Posted by: red at April 11, 2006 10:32 AMOh and Laura - I know, isn't it a great poem?? It makes me miss my cat Samuel - I just love how the characteristics of cats (the leaping up high, the washing, the creeping) are so clearly drawn. It could be about any cat - I love that.
Posted by: red at April 11, 2006 10:33 AMI love that poem. I was dimly aware (mainly from, I have to admit, Bruce Alexander's historical mysteries) that Kit Smart was institutionalized as a "madman"
which is a shame, especially given the conditions of "madhouses" of the day.
I'm always amazed when I read the poem - it's so different, so "other" from all the other religious poetry I've read. To me, it's as if Smart had a window into another way of perceiving things, totally different from people of his time (or maybe, people of any time.)
I tend to think that people like that, rather than being dismissed as insane, should be listened to - maybe they are on to something. Or maybe they are allowed a glimpse of something the rest of us, the more "rational" people, close our eyes to.
I know of one family that has had many cats through the years, and they read this poem aloud at the "funeral" when a cat dies.
Posted by: ricki at April 11, 2006 11:43 AM
That's the best cat poem I've ever seen, Thanks Sheila!
Followers of eastern meditation might say that Smart was "enlightened," not crazy. It sure sounds like he may have been.
And thanks for introducing me to a new poet!
Posted by: annika at April 11, 2006 12:27 PMricki - I so agree with you about the "difference" in his writing. It's really amazing - and it seems truly inspired, since nobody else at that time was writing anything even remotely like it. It's religious ecstasy - but ... he's focusing on a cat leaping from the floor to the windowsill. hahahaha I just love it!
and to ricki and annika - I also agree that Smart may have been "onto something" - and not crazy. It seems to me that he was highly evolved - that sort of intense awareness can be difficult to be around, and also difficult to bear - he may have had a hard time getting thru the day but I do think that it was a shame he was locked up.
Posted by: red at April 11, 2006 12:32 PMProper point, Sheila, and I think I missed your intent. To that end you could probably toss Whitman in there too.
I get carried away sometimes, and to me it's fascinating how people as different as Hopkins and Smart can fix on the same topics - even to the point not just of describing natural beauty but the desire to completely encompass the essence of that object. And then, despite wanting nearly the same thing out of their poetry, for them to go about in so totally different ways - ! Hopkins, the precise and clinical v. Smart's 100% instinct. (If you've ever seen Samurai Champloo, Hopkins' poems would be Gin and Smart's would be Mugen, albeit much nicer.)
Posted by: Nightfly at April 11, 2006 1:06 PMI just deleted my own comment. It's a tangent I'd rather not go off into.
Second thoughts!
I think Christopher Smart is due for some kind of a renaissance - at least a proper biography!
Posted by: red at April 11, 2006 5:23 PMYour Christopher Smart took me away on my own tangent to The Way of a Pilgrim. In just a few moments I will be muttering under my breath about who knows what. Thanks ;)
Posted by: Poor Minnie Temple at April 11, 2006 7:03 PMYour comment about a "cat jumping from a windowsill" being included in a poem about religious ecstasy made me also think of the old Buddhist saying, about the master who had attained enlightenment.
One of the novices asked him: What did you do before enlightenment?
the master replied: I chopped wood and carried water.
The novice then asked him: and what did you do after attaining enlightenment?
he master replied again: I chopped wood and carried water.
I think there's something very deep in that - it's one of my favorite sayings - it's like, religion/faith/belief is not APART from life, it is A PART of life and everything you do. (but I can't say it as well as the Buddhists can.)
Posted by: ricki at April 11, 2006 7:08 PMricki - I love that saying - never heard it before, but thanks so much for sharing it. It's one of my deepest held beliefs about faith. I come from a family of nuns - nuns who straddled the Vatican II divide - they were "before and after" nuns - and these women are my inspiration. They truly were IN the world - they were the forefront of the changes brought about by Vatican II, because so many priests resisted the changes, because - well, they were idiots. They didn't like having to (horrors) turn around and face the congregation, rather than face the altar thru the whole service, etc. etc. They had no sense of connection with the humanity of their religion - so many priests had hid for years behind hobbies, enjoyed the "cushy" life ... while the nuns were out doing the real work. The stories my great-aunts tell are just beyond belief. They're my heroes. They make faith seem like a living, breathing, vital thing - and it IS. Or at least it should be!!
Posted by: red at April 11, 2006 7:45 PMHi Sheila,
Smart is a fascinating poet! I don't know how into classical music you are, but have you heard Benjamin Britten's choral setting of Jubilate Agno under the title "Rejoice in the Lamb"? It's beautiful music and was my first exposure to Smart.
I know almost nothing about Smart's life, but I wonder if he might have been considered insane because of the heretical implications of his verse. For instance:
"For I pray God bless the Chinese which are of ABRAHAM and the Gospel grew with them at the first." - Is this saying that Taoism is the true Gospel? Also, there is the interesting section where various letters of the Latin alphabet are identified with God (i.e., M is Musick, and therefore he is God").
He also wrote movingly of his incarceration:
"For I pray the Lord JESUS that cured the LUNATICK to be merciful to all my brethren and sisters in these houses.
For they work me with their harping-irons, which is a barbarous instrument, because I am more unguarded than others."
Or even more powerfully,
"For I am under the same accusation with my Saviour -- for they said, he is besides himself.
For the officers of the peace are at variance with me, and the watchman smites me with his staff.
For the silly fellow is against me, and belongeth neither to me nor to my family.
For I am in twelve HARDSHIPS, but he that was born of a virgin shall deliver me out of all."
Nightfly, I love the comparison of Hopkins to Gin and Smart to Mugen. What an insane juxtaposition, and I mean that as a complement!
Posted by: Bryan at April 12, 2006 11:20 AMBryan - I will have to check out the choral music of his stuff - I had no idea!!
I think anyone who too strongly identifies with God (however they understand him or her) is bound to seem insane to other more temperate people. Think about the general organized-religion response TO THEIR OWN GODDAMN SAINTS!! People who are now canonized "identified" so strongly that blood poured out of their hands. And so the church then lovingly burned them at the stake, for their intensely personal (and seemingly heretical) identification with the savior.
And I'm not sure about the reasons for him being locked up - I love the un-orthodox-ness of his whole relationship to God. He answered to no one. And oh no, the church folk can't have that!!!
like I said: I would LOVE to read a good biography of him!!
//For they work me with their harping-irons, which is a barbarous instrument, because I am more unguarded than others//
That pretty much says it all. He was more "unguarded". And "unguarded" people (to this day) are punished for it. "Toughen up!" is the creed. People say "Stop your whining!" They interpret genuine feeling as WHINING. Don't even get me started.
Now that we have a better understanding of mental illness (no thanks to Tom Cruise) - we treat our "unguarded" citizens much more humanely - but there's still a long long way to go.
Posted by: red at April 12, 2006 11:41 AMYes, contemplating Smart's words, I was reminded of Plath's description of her forced electroshock therapy, "I wondered what I had done to deserve this."
Posted by: Bryan at April 12, 2006 11:45 AMI was thinking of the lobotomization of Tennessee Williams' sister - but yes - that Sylvia Plath comment is a propos as well. So sad and frightening.
Posted by: red at April 12, 2006 11:46 AMI love this recording of the Britten piece by the way.
Posted by: Bryan at April 12, 2006 11:46 AMThanks, Bryan. I was afraid that nobody else would get it!
I have a general question since it's not on his Wiki entry and I haven't leisure now to really mine the Web - was Smart committed by Church authorities? Just because he was considered "besides himself" doesn't mean that it was the clergy who thus considered it. The Church, in its imperfect way, recognizes that faults in the mind are not faults in the soul - a madman may yet be pious and faithful, such as the case of St. Christina the Astonishing.
Also, IIRC Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and later canonized, but was not herself a stigmatic. The Church considers the stigmata to be heavy evidence of sanctity and gives great honor to those who bear the wounds of Christ in their person - a visible reminder to the rest of us that we are all united to the sufferings of Christ. As for Joan, I think it's pertinent to note that she was sold to the English, who then got a sympathetic bishop to drum up the heresy rap on her - the Church's biggest sins tend to come in her attempts to ally with this or that worldy power. (Christ DID say something about trying to serve two masters.)
It's like you said before, Sheila - there should be no quarrel; faith is a living, breathing, vital thing.
Posted by: Nightfly at April 12, 2006 1:57 PMNightfly -
I wasn't talking about St. Joan, specifically. I was talking about the church's fear and loathing of anyone who strayed from their path - and also a general suspicion of those who felt TOO MUCH. You honestly believe that the Church never punished those who felt too much (my wording for it, obviously)?
Again: if you look at faith as a cookie-cutter, as something to submit to, and that it should look a certain way - then anyone who can't submit to it will seem suspicious.
I've experienced this personally from Catholic zealots.
I think of the Grand Inquisitor scene in Crime and PUnishment, which pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole thing.
From what I understand about Kit Smart, he was locked up for being a public nuisance, not for any doctrinal reasons.
Again: There's a reason I deleted my comment, nightfly.
I intensely dislike talking about religion. It makes me cranky.
Posted by: red at April 12, 2006 2:51 PMY'know Sheila, the more I look at this the more I think that we don't disagree, but that your personal experiences with your zealots has been worse than mine. I've either been lucky, or (much more likely) a lot more clueless about other people's Clucking Disapproval. =) But I've still heard it, and I find this especially odd since I'm Sir Orthodox just about right down the line. In general, though, I don't hear it from priests - just well-meaning fellow laity who can't imagine being a blogger-hockey-anime Catholic themselves, and so mistakenly think that the first three things are mutually exclusive with the fourth. I'd hate to be guilty of the same error here, and especially with a good cyberfriend.
The problem is that the clergy have only a very few things to do on this earth - 1. minister to the faithful (especially in the sacraments); 2. proclaim the gospel. In order to do either of those, they have an unenviable responsibility - they have to be the ones who obey the command, "Test the spirits to find out if they are true." (1 John 4:1) For every Kit Smart there are a hundred L Ron Hubtards, who through ignorance or malice deceive people and cause misery and ruined lives.
As a result religions move much more slowly than the Spirit of God. The positive is that the Church as a whole isn't simply shoved about on the zeal of a few mystics, well-meaning or otherwise, who may be mistaking nonsense for inspiration. Agreed that it's a purely negative function, but without it one could not properly call any religion a religion. Any great mystics, like St. John of the Cross or St. Teresa of Avila, take getting used to for all concerned.
Let me indulge my taste in irony and appeal to Idols here. The songs are written by someone else, but the individual talents of the singers decide whether those covers succeed or fail. You can have bad material (a Hubtard song, if you will) or a bad performer (Torquemada); things really don't take off until good material meets the right performer.
I apologize for inadvertantly adding to the pile; it really isn't my intent. I just know that orthodoxy and individuality CAN do more than just coexist - they're in tension but they aren't at war - and on a blog the only way I have to demonstrate it is with words.
Posted by: Nightfly at April 12, 2006 3:16 PMYIKES! I didn't see your last before replying. Geez, I'm a spaz. (First Rule of Holes - Stop Digging, but I've already struck magma, I think.) I get passionate about this because it can be DONE - people don't have to become Godbots! Usually I'm annoying the cluckers, though...
Feel free to delete, with my sincere apologies.
So... how about that Ace, huh?
Posted by: Nightfly at April 12, 2006 3:21 PMNightfly - Oh, no worries. I just don't like talking about religion or politics - unless I really know the person. Just my preference. It's too upsetting.
Did you read my earlier comment in the thread about the nuns in my family?
I grew up with the opposite of Godbots. Which is why ignorant fundamentalists hurt me even more.
And on that note:
ACE IS SO AWFUL. Please let this be the night he's sent home - please???
Posted by: red at April 12, 2006 3:42 PM