Christopher Smart

A British poet who was a religious fanatic and was considered crazy by other people, who committed him to an insane asylum, where he wrote his famous poem "Jubilate Agno", which contains his even more famous poem "For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffrey". Boswell's Life of Johnson has a passage about Smart. Compare pray without ceasing, The Way of a Pilgrim.

Christopher Smart was a contemporary and friend to such poets as William Cowper and Thomas Gray (Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard). Compare For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffrey with the poems of Smart's friends and it is clear that he stood out somewhat. Interestingly, all three of these poets wrote about their cats. See also e. e. cummings and William Carlos Williams for poetic interpretations of the cat.