Jubilate Agno

Jubilate Agno (Latin: "Rejoice in the Lamb") is a religious poem by Christopher Smart, and was written between 1759 and 1763, during Smart's confinement for insanity in St. Luke's Hospital, Bethnal Green, London. The poem was first published in 1939, under the title Rejoice in the Lamb: A Song from Bedlam, edited by W. F. Stead from Smart's manuscript, which Stead had discovered in a private library.

Background

A "Commission of Lunacy" was taken out against Christopher Smart, and he was admitted in St. Luke's Hospital on May 6, 1757 as a "Curable Patient" by his wife Anna's stepfather John Newbery. It is possible that Smart was confined by Newbery over old debts and a poor relationship between the two. Regardless, there is evidence that an incident took place in St. James’s Park in which he "routed all the company" (Jubilate Agno B89) and this incident may have provoked his being locked away.

During this time, Smart was left alone, except for his cat Jeoffry and the occasional gawker. It is very possible that he felt "homeless" during this time and surely felt that he was in a "limbo… between public and private space". He had nothing else but to turn inwards and devote himself to God and his poetry. No specifics are known about Christopher Smart's day-to-day activities, and he was released from the asylum on January 30, 1763, but his poem was not to be published until 1939.