Smart's quirks

Personally I found Jubilate Agno to be delightfully absurd when considered against some of the more serious minded poetry of the 18th century. Although, as we know, Smart was considered a madman of dubious ability, the fact that one of his more famous exhibitions of lucidity is a poem about his cat. The archaic, religious language only serves to highlight the absurdity of the work yet at the same time hint to the surprising depth of its feeling and thought.