Christopher Smart's name is often to be found linked with Collins, Cowper and Blake - those other eighteenth century poets who ‘went mad'. It is certainly true that from 1757 until 1763 he was confined in a madhouse, but it is also true that during those years, and in that place, he wrote the poems which have led him to be recognised now as our finest religious poet between Herbert and Hopkins. So, was he mad? In his long poem

he wrote, ‘For I have a greater compass of both mirth and melancholy than another', which would suggest he was a manic depressive, but he rarely seems to have been depressed, and so must have been very difficult to live with. Eventually, his wife, together with her step-father, the energetic publisher John Newbery, had him locked up. He was no…

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Citation: Curry, Neil. "Christopher Smart". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 November 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4105, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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