Editing Christopher Smart (section)

===Environmental===
Smart had a reputation for being a "dedicated gardener".<ref name="Dearnley p. 46">{{harvnb|Dearnley|1969|p=46}}</ref> His poem ''The Hop-Garden'' helped to further this reputation, and even during his stay in a mental asylum he convinced others of his bond with nature.<ref name="Dearnley p. 46" /> Johnson witnessed Smart's time in asylum and stated, "he has partly as much exercise as he used to have, for he digs in the garden."<ref>''[[Boswell's Life of Johnson]]''</ref> Gardening, to Smart, was a way in which humans could interact with nature and actually "improve" on the natural landscape.<ref>{{harvnb|Dearnley|1969|p=47}}</ref>

However, Smart did not only write about gardens and vegetation, and his focus on his cat Jeoffry is widely known and his focus on nature connects him to those mistreated and neglected by 18th-century society.<ref>{{harvnb|Bertelsen|1999|p=375}}</ref> The first fragment of ''Jubilate Agno'' is a poetic "Ark" that pairs humans with animals in order to purify all of creation.<ref name="Prose Works I p. xxv" /> The whole work relies on his extensive background in botany and his knowledge of taxonomy.<ref>{{harvnb|Mounsey|2001|p=226}}</ref> He actively participated in the 18th-century taxonomy systems established by [[Carl Linnaeus]]; however, Smart is mythologising his view of nature and creation when he adds information from [[Pliny the Elder]] into his work.<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|1999|p=109}}</ref>

By using this knowledge, Smart was able to give a "voice" to nature; he believed that nature, like his cat Jeoffry, is always praising God but needs a poet in order to bring out that voice.<ref name="Curry p. 8" /> As such, themes of animals and language are merged in ''Jubilate Agno'', and Jeoffry is transformed into a manifestation of the ''Ars Poetica'' tradition.<ref>{{harvnb|Ennis|2000|p=16}}</ref>