Christopher Smart was an 18th century English poet known for his religious works A Song to David and Jubilate Agno. He was well educated but suffered from religious mania which led to periods of incarceration in mental hospitals. His most famous work Jubilate Agno is a long poem written while confined in an asylum that features unusual praise of God through cataloguing different animals and relating them to biblical figures. It was not discovered and published until 1939 but has since influenced many later poets through its original style.

1. IRENE RUIZ-MELGAREJO
SHEILA CEREZO
ADRIÁN MENÉNDEZ DE LA CUESTA
Christopher Smart

2. Who was Christopher Smart?
 English, religious poet
(1722-1771)
 Main works: A song to
David and Jubilate Agno
 Pseudonymous: Kitty
Smart or Mrs. Mary
Midnight.
 Influences: Horace, John
Milton, Alexander
Pope, the Bible.

3. Education
 Good education in Latin and Greek
 Sizar student at College
 Scolarships

4. Known because of
 Journals The Student and The Midwife
 Winner of the Seatonian Prize
 Several attacks and critics

5. Religious obsession
 (General) belief of his madness
 Mental hospital  A song to David
 Jubilate Agno
 Not success = decline of his work

6. Prison
 Arrested for debt
 Dead in prison
 Last letter: “Being upon recovery from a fit of
illness, and having nothing to eat, I beg you to send
me two or three shillings which (God willing) I will
return, with many thanks, in two or three days.”

7. Main Works
 A Song to David
 The Hilliad
 The Hop-Garden
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs
 Hymns for the Amusement of Children
 The Oratorios Hannah and Abimelech
 The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
 A Poetical Translation of the Fables of Phaedrus
 A Translation of the Psalms of David
 On the eternity of the supreme being ("Seatonian Prize"
poems)
 The Works of Horace Prose and Verse
 Jubilate Agno

8. Religious works
 A Song to David
 The Hilliad
 The Hop-Garden
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs
 Hymns for the Amusement of Children
 The Oratorios Hannah and Abimelech
 The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
 A Poetical Translation of the Fables of Phaedrus
 A Translation of the Psalms of David
 On the eternity of the supreme being ("Seatonian Prize"
poem)
 The Works of Horace Prose and Verse
 Jubilate Agno

9. Religious works
Moral works
 A Song to David
 The Hilliad
 The Hop-Garden
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs
 Hymns for the Amusement of Children
 The Oratorios Hannah and Abimelech
 The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
 A Poetical Translation of the Fables of Phaedrus
 A Translation of the Psalms of David
 On the eternity of the supreme being ("Seatonian Prize"
poem)
 The Works of Horace Prose and Verse
 Jubilate Agno

10. Religious works
Patriotism and Anglican church
 A Song to David
 The Hilliad
 The Hop-Garden
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs
 Hymns for the Amusement of Children
 The Oratorios Hannah and Abimelech
 The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
 A Poetical Translation of the Fables of Phaedrus
 A Translation of the Psalms of David
 On the eternity of the supreme being ("Seatonian Prize"
poem)
 The Works of Horace Prose and Verse
 Jubilate Agno

11. Poems related to nature
 A Song to David
 The Hilliad
 The Hop-Garden
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs
 Hymns for the Amusement of Children
 The Oratorios Hannah and Abimelech
 The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
 A Poetical Translation of the Fables of Phaedrus
 A Translation of the Psalms of David
 On the eternity of the supreme being ("Seatonian Prize"
poem)
 The Works of Horace Prose and Verse
 Jubilate Agno

12. Translation works
 A Song to David
 The Hilliad
 The Hop-Garden
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs
 Hymns for the Amusement of Children
 The Oratorios Hannah and Abimelech
 The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
 A Poetical Translation of the Fables of Phaedrus
 A Translation of the Psalms of David
 On the eternity of the supreme being ("Seatonian Prize"
poem)
 The Works of Horace Prose and Verse
 Jubilate Agno

13. Translation works
 A Song to David
 The Hilliad
 The Hop-Garden
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs
 Hymns for the Amusement of Children
 The Oratorios Hannah and Abimelech
 The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
 A Poetical Translation of the Fables of Phaedrus
 A Translation of the Psalms of David
 On the eternity of the supreme being ("Seatonian Prize"
poem)
 The Works of Horace Prose and Verse
 Jubilate Agno

14. He influenced
 Benjamin Britten
 Robert Browning
 Theodore Roethke

15. Jubilate Agno
 The discovery of the manuscript in 1939
 The interpretation:
 The Hebrew antiphonal model
 Dialogue in the Creation
 A mystical, not scientific, approach to God

16. Jubilate Agno
LET PETER rejoice with the MOON FISH who keeps up
the life in the waters by night.
FOR I pray the Lord JESUS that cured the LUNATICK to
be merciful to all my brethren and sisters in these
houses.
Let Andrew rejoice with the Whale, who is array'd in
beauteous blue and is a combination of bulk and
activity.
For they work me with their harping-irons, which is a
barbarous instrument, because I am more unguarded
than others.
[…]
Let James the less, rejoice with the Haddock, who
brought the piece of money for the Lord and Peter.
For the nets come down from the eyes of the Lord to
fish up men to their salvation.
[…]
Let Matthias rejoice with the Flying-Fish, who has a
part with the birds, and is sublimity in his conceit.
For I am redoubted, and redoubtable in the Lord, as is
THOMAS BECKET my father.
[…]
Let Paul rejoice with the Scale, who is pleasant and
faithful!, like God's good ENGLISHMAN.
For I paid for my seat in St PAUL's, when I was six years
old, and took possession against the evil day.
Let Agrippa, which is Agricola, rejoice with Elops, who
is a choice fish.
For I am descended from the steward of the island --
blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus king of England.
[…]
Let John, the Baptist, rejoice with the Salmon --
blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus for infant
Baptism.
For I am safe, as to my head, from the female dancer
and her admirers.