THE INDIVIDUAL ANIMAL IN POETRY125Historically, probably the first poem to dwell on an individual ani-
mal is Christopher Smart’s “Jubilate Agno”; more specifically, the final
seventy-three lines of fragment B on Smart’s cat Jeoffry.^12 These lines,
now frequently anthologized as a separate poem (which is itself a sign
of cultural interest in our relationships with pets), conclude the frag-
ment’s long series of canticle-like statements, many of which catalog
aspects of nature and culture that reflect the glory and mystery of God’s
order. That Smart “will consider [his] Cat Jeoffry” as a part of a broad
survey of the sacred is in keeping with the poem’s broader assumption
that the particular and individual is always connected to, as well as
being a sign of, the abstract and holy. Thus, Smart asserts that his cat
has a soul, the Judeo-Christian signifier of individuality. To have a soul
is at once to be a part of the holy substance of God and to be distinct. A
soul is also a definitive (and circular) quality of humanness, so it is all
the more remarkable that Smart so jubilantly depicts Jeoffry as also holy.
He too “is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.”
Like humans, this one cat is part of the order of creatures made holy by
being created by God. He “worships in his way”; for instance, by cleaning
himself ritualistically every morning, and by keeping “the Lord’s watch
in the night against the adversary, / For he counteracts the powers of
darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.” Also, amusingly, Jeof-
fry keeps the cat Sabbath, “for one mouse in seven escapes by his dal-
lying.” Smart gives examples of ways that Jeoffry displays catness and
“is of the tribe of Tiger,” but he also notes how his being one of God’s
creatures is evinced by the blessing of his individual agency—that he is
a particular cat with distinct behaviors: “He is a mixture of gravity and
waggery... , / he can fetch and carry... , / can jump over a stick... , /
can spraggle upon waggle.” Smart includes the fact that Jeoffry has been
bitten by a rat, which provokes the speaker’s concern, as he interjects
“Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry.” Jeoffry is healed by the “divine spirit,”
making clear that he is blessed. Jeoffry “is good to think on, if a man
would express himself neatly,” because for Smart he is a powerful sign
of God’s justice, that it extends to the creature who was his companion
in the asylum.