The poem from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart is an expression of his religious monomania, with the poet using his cat as a subject for the expression of religious fervor and belief. The work was written while the author was being held in a mental institution, which in his time was a much less therapeutic place than the term might conjure up today.
The method of the poet is to begin every line in this section with "for." The poet originally intended counterparts for each line beginning with "Let," and while he completed this task for other poems in his collection, he never wrote the "Let" responses for this set of lines. The poem as it stands is lengthy and in a form of free verse unusual for the late eighteenth century when these lines were written. There is no regular metrical pattern or rhyme scheme, there is a verbal pattern in that each line begins with "For," with most lines referring to "he," meaning the cat, and with several lines in a sequence exhibiting a specific pattern lining them together. For instance, in the first part of the poem there are ten lines counting out a series of "degrees" describing how the cat acts. The author is most interested in conveying a sense of the spiritual such as can be discerned in the actions of this one small animal, and the animal seems to prove the existence and actions of God by its very existence.
The opening line of the poem indicates the subject and the fact that this subject is being examined and speculated about by the writer: "For I will consider my Cat Jeoffrey." The reason for this is given in the second line: "For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him." Jeoffrey is not being examined for his own sake but for what he shows the poet about God. The animal is closer to God because the animal serves God by his existence. Unlike a human being, the Cat goes about his business serving God without the ability to think about it or to avoid...