Editing Christopher Smart (section)

===Religion===
[[Image:Jubilate Agno let.JPG|thumb|right|A page from the "Let" side of the ''Jubilate Agno'' manuscript]] [[Image:Jubilate Agno for.JPG|thumb|right|A page from the "For" side of the ''Jubilate Agno'' manuscript]]
Although Smart wrote the "Seatonian Prize" poems early on, there is a contrast between the mimicked Miltonic blank verse and the intense exploration of religion found in his later works.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=70}}</ref> His first "Seatonian Prize" poem, ''On the Eternity of the Supreme Being'' is part of two traditional types of religious writing: "authoritative discourse of religious poetry" and "tentative and self-critical discourse of an apparently more personal devotion"<ref name="Guest p. 71">{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=71}}</ref>  In connecting the two, he redefines "the role of the religious poet."<ref name="Guest p. 71" /> By establishing a debate between these two forms, Harriet Guest claims that Smart creates "a poetic space which allows the poet to make provisional, even questionable statements", which are important to his later works.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=83}}</ref> To Guest, Smart, in his religious poems, "is not concerned to offer instruction in Christian conduct."<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=94}}</ref> Besides the greater theological debate, the poems are also the origins of Smart's belief that all of creation is constantly praising God, and that a poet must "give voice to mute nature's praise of God."<ref name="Curry p. 8">{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=8}}</ref>

''Jubilate Agno'' reflects an abandonment of traditional poetic structures in order to explore complex religious thought.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=132}}</ref> His "Let" verses join creation together as he seemingly writes his own version of Biblical poetry.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=140}}</ref> Smart, in ''Jubilate Agno'', plays on words and the meaning behind words in order to participate with the divine that exists within language.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=167}}</ref> Although the original manuscript divided the "Let" and "For" verses onto opposing sides of the manuscript, Karina Williams claims that "Dr W. H. Bond then discovered that some of the LET and FOR folios were numbered and dated concurrently, and that these chronologically parallel texts were further connected by verbal links."<ref name="Prose Works I p. xxii">''Prose Works'' I p. xxii</ref> This justified her combining the two sides to follow each other.<ref name="Prose Works I p. xxii" /> Using this as a model, Guest claims that the "For" verses explore religion with a "personal tone" and the "Let" are "unambiguous" and deal with public matters.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|pp=141–142}}</ref> Jeanne Walker goes further than Guest and claims that the "Let " and "For" sections are united with the Hebrew tradition and "iterate both present and future simultaneously, that is, they redeem time."<ref>{{harvnb|Walker|1980|p=458}}</ref>

Words and language connect the poet to divine revelation, and God is the "great poet" who used language in order to create the universe.<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=28}}</ref> Through words and language, Smart attempted to capture the creative power of those words.<ref>{{harvnb|Hawes|1996|pp=140–141}}</ref> By relying on the power of words, Smart is, according to Clement Hawes, subverting "Anglican control over religious functions and services."<ref>{{harvnb|Hawes|1996|p=152}}</ref> In essence, Smart's approach to religion in ''Jubilate Agno'' is comparable to [[John Wesley]]'s theological [[dictum]] and to the writings of John Perro and [[William Bowling]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hawes|1996|p=163}}</ref> He also creates his own natural philosophy and criticizes science, like that established by [[Isaac Newton]], for their ignoring "the glory of Almighty God."<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=201}}</ref>

To Smart, each piece of matter is alive because it is connected to God, and matter cannot be described in a cold manner that disconnects it from this reality.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=214}}</ref> However, Smart accomplished his new science by relying on Newtonian empiricism.<ref>{{harvnb|Mounsey|2001|p=221}}</ref> As part of his desire to bring back the divine language to poetry and science, he creates an "Ark of Salvation" in order to describe a prophetic and apocalyptic future which emphasises the importance of Christ and England.<ref name="Prose Works I p. xxv">''Prose Works'' I p. xxv</ref> Along with being prophetic, the poem itself is modelled after the canticles and follows the form of the [[Benedicite]].<ref name="Prose Works I p. xxv" /> The Benedicite is not the only model however, and there is a strong link between ''Jubilate Agno'' and the [[psalm]] tradition.<ref>{{harvnb|Walker|1980|p=450}}</ref>

Smart's ''A Song to David'' is an attempt to bridge poetry written by humans and Biblical poetry.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=246}}</ref> The Biblical [[David]] plays an important role in this poem just as he played an important role in ''Jubilate Agno''<ref name="Hawes p. 167">{{harvnb|Hawes|1996|p=167}}</ref> However, David in ''Jubilate Agno'' is an image of the creative power of poetry whereas he becomes a fully realized model of the religious poet.<ref name="Hawes p. 167" /> By focusing on David, Smart is able to tap into the "heavenly language."<ref>{{harvnb|Jacobs|1998|p=189}}</ref> Many critics have focused on the role of David as planner of [[Solomon's Temple]] and his possible role with the [[Freemasons]].<ref name="Curry p. 57">{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=57}}</ref> However, the true life of the poem comes later when Christ is introduced as the major subject.<ref name="Curry 6 7" /> After Christ is introduced, Smart attempts to "reach to heaven" and the final passages, to Neil Curry, represent a "final rush for glory."<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=69}}</ref>

According to Mounsey, ''A Song to David'' and Smart's ''Psalms'' is an attempt to "Christianize" the Old Testament through writing an 18th-century [[psalter]].<ref>{{harvnb|Mounsey|2001|p=213}}</ref> However, the ''Psalms'' perform a secondary function: they allow Smart to relate to the suffering of David and to reinforce his own religious convictions by following his Biblical model.<ref name="Curry p. 44">{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=44}}</ref> As part of Smart's "Christianizing" of the ''Psalms'', Jesus becomes a divine form of suffering, and Smart becomes further juxtaposed with his Biblical model as both praise God for Jesus's ultimate sacrifice and for the beauty of all creation.<ref name="Curry p. 44" /> The ''Hymns'' and ''Psalms'' form their own sort of liturgy and attempt to reform Anglican liturgy by emphasizing God's place in nature.<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=251}}</ref>

Smart's ''Hymns'' are modelled after a tradition exemplified by [[Robert Nelson (nonjuror)|Robert Nelson]].<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=74}}</ref> They are steeped in Anglican tradition and also emphasize English patriotism and England's divine favour.<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=76}}</ref> The ''Hymns'', according to Guest, "[express] a delight in creation that is largely absent from the work of other hymn-writers of the century, unless they are paraphrasing the words of David."<ref>{{harvnb|Guest|1989|p=252}}</ref> To Hawes, the ''Hymns'' exemplify an evangelical spirit that separates Smart from the traditional Anglican church.<ref>{{harvnb|Hawes|1996|p=134}}</ref> Although he wrote his second set of hymns, ''Hymns for the Amusement of Children'', for a younger audience, Smart cares more about emphasizing the need for children to be moral instead of "innocent".<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=91}}</ref> These works have been seen as possibly too complicated for "amusement" because they employ ambiguities and complicated theological concepts.<ref>{{harvnb|Booth|1999|p=71}}</ref> In essence, the ''Hymns for the Amusement of Children'' is intended to teach children the specific virtues that make up the subject matter of the work.<ref>{{harvnb|Curry|2005|p=93}}</ref> Like the ''Hymns for the Amusement of Children'', Smart's ''The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ'' were designed to teach morals.<ref>{{harvnb|Parker|1999|p=88}}</ref> However, these ''Parables'' alter the original Biblical [[parable]]s in order to simplify them and help them "make sense"<ref>{{harvnb|Parker|1999|p=95}}</ref> As such, Todd Parker claims that the ''Parables'', and the other religious works of Smart, are part of his final push for the "evangelization of London's reading public."<ref>{{harvnb|Parker|1999|p=84}}</ref>