Genius and Madness in Christopher Smart’s My Cat Jeoffry
A series of verses commencing with the word “for”, Christopher Smart’s “My Cat Jeoffry” is surprisingly modernistic and intriguing. Written while Smart was confined in a mental asylum for incessant praying, the aphoristic poem praises the cat Jeoffry, a faithful servant to God. Unrestricted by rigid poetic structures, “My Cat Jeoffry” is nevertheless organized and coherent, ablaze with a current of religious fervour. It is impossible to know if the poem was inspired by genius or by madness, but it is infused with sanity and truth. While the poem is about a cat’s devotion to God through its daily actions, Smart’s “My Cat Jeoffry” also serves as a lesson to humankind.
…show more content…
Is Smart perhaps inserting his characteristic wit into “My Cat Jeoffry” and alluding to John Wesley’s (1703-1791) dictum “cleanliness is next to godliness”?
Superior to other animals due to the dexterity of his movements (40, 71), Jeoffry is able to serve God asleep and awake, as emphasized in Smart’s parallel lines “For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest./For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion” (44-45). Jeoffry’s abilities to influence those around him is also brought into light in the parallel lines “For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser./For the former is afraid of detection./For the latter refuses the charge” (57-59).
Jeoffry, even “when his day’s work is done” (23), continues to work in God’s grace by keeping the Devil at bay with his “electrical skin & glaring eyes” (25). This use of diction seems absurd, and one wonders if Smart is not fooling his audience all along. Echoing William Blake’s “The Tiger” and his Four-Fold Vision by the vivid descriptions of his “Angel Tiger” (29), Smart hints that there exist multiple layers in “My Cat Jeoffry”. Without a doubt, Jeoffry’s life can be paralleled to that of humankind. However, what kind of person does Smart speak of? Is Smart truly praising those who are devoted to God, or is he criticizing those who are over-zealous in their devotions?
Given the knowledge of Smart’s background,
him. He assimilates himself with the the clergymen by assessing how they are all men of
The last sentence of the poem, ““There is still murder in your heart” (14), is a powerful claim that suggests that a routine consisting of prayer, communion, or hymn singing will not dissolve the sin of the heart. However, seeing this claim from a different standpoint, this can also suggest that this dull routine is convenient when it comes to preserving an appearance of purity and grace. There is an image in the middle of the poem, “light swords” (7), that possibly represents sharp members of the congregation trying to deceive the church authorities and God. Their comfort to the routine is remarkable because it does not really make a difference at the end; the only thing that truly matters is the masked life they are trying to keep hidden. Readers may consider the arguments presented in this poem as the truth reaching out to the contemporary church and its followers to improve their relationship with
Edgar Allan Poe shows his insanity in the Black Cat through irony. The narrator says in the begining of the story; "My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events"(1). Later readers discover the fact that the events are in no way mere household events, buts much more gruesome and highlights the narrator's perverseness. Later, the narrator buries his wife in a very loosely constructed wall, yet when the police come by he tells them; "By the bye, gentlemen, this - this is a very well constructed house"(5). As he tells them this he knocks against the wall and the cat cries. This stirs the policemen and we soon realize it was not a well constructed wall as the bricks
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying
Brockmeier’s implementation of symbolism aids in the explanation of certain situations in a way that instills a deeper meaning to the reader. Brockmeier teaches a great lesson when God mirrors human nature when he says, “‘It’s yours now. They’re all yours now. I don’t want the responsibility anymore’” (264). God is used as a representation of human nature because this is what people do to God; they give up and put all the responsibility on him. The author also uses the coat as a symbol for the man’s faith. He writes, “It had brought him little ease – that was true – but it had made his life incomparably richer” (266). The coat was a symbol for the man’s conscience making him do good things. When he said something or did something nice for someone, it made his life feel better.
Pathos: “Cowell had been raised in poverty and chaos. Because he did not get along with other children, he had been unschooled since the age of seven.” (pg. 73)
William Blake’s 1793 poem “The Tyger” has many interpretations, but its main purpose is to question God as a creator. Its poetic techniques generate a vivid picture that encourages the reader to see the Tyger as a horrifying and terrible being. The speaker addresses the question of whether or not the same God who made the lamb, a gentle creature, could have also formed the Tyger and all its darkness. This issue is addressed through many poetic devices including rhyme, repetition, allusion, and symbolism, all of which show up throughout the poem and are combined to create a strong image of the Tyger and a less than thorough interpretation of its maker.
Christopher Smart’s first line says, “For I will consider my cay Jeoffry,” (Line 695) basically it recites the title of the poem and it’s as if Smart is automatically letting it be known that this entire writing is going to be for Jeoffry. More importantly that the writing is about the fact that Jeoffry is a cat. Simple enough, the poem is about a guy obsessed with his cat. Although, it’s really more in depth than just a guy obsessed with his cat. If we add in the second line of the poem which reads, “For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him,” (Line 696) we are provided with a little bit of that depth. It’s a must to take into account the fact that Christopher Smart was hospitalized in an asylum for five years due to his need to constantly worship
Upside-down prestige isn’t calculated by the height of our rung on the social ladder. In God’s inverted kingdom, greatness is signified by our willingness to serve. Service to others becomes the yardstick of stature in the new kingdom” (pg 229).
In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey shows the reader the idea of sanity versus insanity. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is about the struggle between chaos and order. There is no freedom without a little chaos, yet to maintain the order there must be oppression. McMurphy upsets the routine of the ward by asking for schedule changes and aspiring resistance during therapy sessions. He teaches his fellow inmates to have fun, and encourages them to embrace their human desires. He does this by convincing them that not only are they sane, but they are man (real people), in contrast nurse Ratched as an authoritarian. He soon discovers due to this that he is not only trapped behind physical walls but mental ones as well. Many patients
Thesis: Traditionally theodicy is expressed as the inability to reconcile the co-existence of a good God and the ever-present evil at work in the world. How could God and evil coexist? Does this mean that God is not stronger than the evil? If God is all-powerful, then is he not willing to save mankind from evil? These questions of theodicy are fundamental to the texts of Ecclesiastes and Job, yet both texts taking on their own motifs on how to cope with the present experience of evil and Yahweh’s coexistence. I will argue both of these texts conclude the only remedy is to fear God in spite of their (Job and Qohelet’s) personal experiences. When life does not make sense, fear God and cling to him.
Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most influential and important writers of the nineteenth century. He was the first writer to try to make a living only writing. One of Poe’s most popular short stories, “The Black Cat”, is considered horror fiction or gothic fiction which Poe is known for in his books and short stories because it was a popular genre during his days. In Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat”, Poe uses a horror fiction genre, a mentally deranged and evil narrator/character, and symbolism of death to make a thrilling story with tons of suspense, drama, and gruesome detail.
“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe is one of Poe’s greatest literary works that embodies his signature themes of death, violence, and darkness. Poe’s main character begins his narration of his horrible wrongdoings regarding them as a “series of mere household events” (Poe 705). However, this is where Poe’s satire and irony begins and the story progresses to show the deranged mindset of this character as he tries to justify his actions. As the main character proceeds to rationalize his crime, Poe is able to convey a sense of irony through his use of foreshadowing, metaphors and symbolism.
William Blake’s poetry is considered through the Romantics era and they access through the sublime. The Romantics poetry through the sublime is beyond comprehension and spiritual fullness. A major common theme is a nature (agnostic religion). In William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” he describes the tiger as a creature that was created by a higher power some time before. In Blake’s poem he questions, “What immortal hand or eye/ Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” (Blake 22-23). He describes the tiger as a form of symmetry that can be seen as evil, yet have intriguing features such as those that make the tiger a beautiful creation. Blake also questions if that the higher being who created the tiger also created all else around the world such as a human being. Blake shifts his first stanzas from the tiger to the creator. Not only is he questioning who created the tiger, but he is also describing the beauty and evil of the world. The beauty that the Romantics believe in is nature and one evil seen through the world is materialism that distract humans from the beauty of nature 's gifts. He believes that people lose touch with spirituality when haven’t given to nature. Blake also illustrated his own works through
William Blake used animals as basic building blocks for poems such as “The Lamb” and “The Tyger.” By using these carefully selected animals to depict good and evil, the reader truly understands Blake’s words. All readers can relate to animals such as an innocent lamb and a