Song Form and the Mind in Christopher Smart's Later Poetry

Song Form and the M indmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA in Christopher Smart's Later Poetry M ARK W. BOOTHgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA In Christopher Smart's psalms, hymns, and RQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA A S o n g t o D a v id , all apparently written in or soon after the time of his madhouse confine­ ment, there are consistent formal elements that work to intercept dis­ cursive rational thought and to invoke another mentality. The mode of mind dominant in this poetry relies little on continuity through time, to the frustration of the linear apprehension generally hoped for by readers. Rather it turns to the moment of experience and, on the other hand, to a larger geometry of structure. Such a mentality seems often to appear in lyrics written for music, as were these psalms and hymns. Much that is distinctive in A S o n g t o D a v id , which was not intended for music, conforms to patterns visible in Smart's sing­ ing psalms in particular. Analysis of such patterns and the mentality they serve may also suggest a better understanding of the enigmatic J u b lia t e A g n o that Smart produced in brief daily segments through the years of his detention.1 Smart's renderings of all the Psalms represent his largest body of verse specifically for music. Through his literary career he had often written song verse. He worked with Thomas Arne, for example, in his early London years, to write Vauxhall music garden songs. It is uncertain how knowledgeable about music Smart was himself, though his stage foolery as "Mrs. Midnight" may have included his singing or playing an instrument. He seems not to have needed a particular tune in mind to write song verse. He did suggest, in the published 211 212 / BOOTH psalms, specific tunes from among those in common church use as the settings for some but not all of his texts, but in RQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA J u b ila t e A g n o he recorded his prayer for "a musician or musicians to set the new psalms."2 He clearly intended them for singing but wrote to the sing­ ing occasion rather than adapting details of his verse to details of setting. The following discussion considers, then, not the art of his adaptation of words to particular music, but the character in general of the verse he wrote for the occasion of singing. A specimen of Smart's song verse is this second of his two versions of Psalm 100.mlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA HOSANNA! people of all lands Unite your voices, lift your hands, And to the Lord repair, And thankful fall upon your face, And hail with songs the throne of grace, And shew your gladness there. Yourselves in this belief confirm, That man his talent and his term Are God's, and not his own; We are the flock he folds and feeds With milk and honey in his meads, The Lord is God alone. O go, but send your song before, Into his courts, his temple door, His name in anthems raise— Give thanks the soul's immortal food, And speak him great, and speak him good, Your hearts with rapture blaze. For race by race he is renown'd In mercies which to peace abound, In truth reveal'd and taught; And gracious is the Lord of love, Above all estimate, above The flight of time and thought.3 This song shares its stanza form and much of its style and matter with A S o n g t o D a v id . Setting aside that resemblance for the moment, let us consider these verses on their own, as Smart's new rendering of an old favorite scriptural hymn. For comparison we may consult the Sternhold and Hopkins text that had by Smart's time been the most popular version with English congregations for two centuries: C h r is t o p h e r S m a r t ' s L a t e r P o e t r y gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED / 213mlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTS All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice: Him serve with fear, his praise forth...