#christopher smart

[ma-pi-ma]

Non c’è nulla di più dolce del sentimento di pace che infonde quando riposa, e non c’è nulla di più vivace della sua natura quando è in movimento.

Christopher Smart

[elizabethsproctor]

For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him

Jubilate Agno, Christopher Smart

[mezzyfunbon]

Forgot to post this

[littleliongirl16]

(tma spoilers to s5)

Melanie, Georgie, and Monster!the Admiral

Okay so I'm taking a poetry class this semester and I figured I would abuse the knowledge that I've gotten there to draw podcast fanart!

Season 5 Melanie and Georgie going to visit the Admiral with lines from the poem Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart. In particular you can look up the section called "Jeoffrey" which is about his cat and is where I got this line from.

I don't think Melanie per se thinks they're going to get hurt by the Admiral, but she knows he's not really aware they're there and she kinda wants Georgie to pull back just to not upset herself.

[manila-bean]

So there's this nerd who gets into a fight, right?

[vifetoile]

For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffrey

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffrey. 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 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 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.

Christopher Smart, born April 11, 1722

[petermorwood]

I hope you have - or have had, depending on time - a good St Patrick’s Day.

Or Pawtrick’s, or Catrick’s, because the 17th of March is also the feast-day of St Gertrude of Nivelle who is supposedly * the patron saint of cats.

* A secular claim which first started in the early 1980s, so its authenticity is... Dubious.

But if St Patrick’s Day invokes a non-religious obligation to paint things green and drink a wee bit more than usual (cough), then St Getrude’s Day is just as valid a reason to crack open the kitty treats and give some extra stroking **.

** Who knows, you might even discover electricity... :->

[a-queer-seminarian]

“he purrs in thankfulness when God tells him he's a good Cat”

I just encountered a poem that speaks to how God is God of all creatures, not only humans; and to the spiritual nourishment cats can offer their humans.

I actually came across it while looking at religious medals on Etsy — artist Hank Schlau at his shop In the Company of Saints has crafted a lovely medal commemorating the poet Christopher Smart and his cat Jeoffry. Schlau describes of this duo’s friendship as “one of the deepest relations between a cat and human I know of.”

[id: a pewter medal in an imperfect oval shape that features a man petting a cat that sits on a table, looking out a window at the sun. The backside of the medal is also pictured, bearing text that reads “He purrs in thankfulness.”]

Christopher Smart (1722-1771) was an English poet whose father institutionalized him for “lunacy” for years. During his years-long confinement, Smart’s one companion was the cat he named Jeoffry. Schlau, the maker of the medal depicted above, argues that this cat ought to be made a Saint:

“Jeoffry was never canonized but he performed the same acts that got many a human saint canonized: he prayed (purred) with one who was downcast; and he cheered and gave hope to one who’d been abandoned."

One of Smart’s best-loved poems is a fragment about Jeoffry from a larger work, Jubilate Agno, which he wrote during his institutionalization. You can read the whole poem about Jeoffry here; I share my favorite parts below.

___

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 is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness. ... For having considered God and himself he will consider his neighbor. 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 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 every house is incomplete without him, and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.

...For the dexterity of his defense 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 there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest. For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.

...For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser. For the former is afraid of detection. For the latter refuses the charge. ... For by stroking of him I have found out electricity. For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire. ...