Was Christopher Smart a madman, or simply a victim of his own debts?

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Christopher Smart was a celebrated 18th-century poet, a friend to Samuel Johnson, and a master of satire. Yet, he spent his final years in debtors' prison, haunted by a reputation for religious mania. Was his confinement in a mental asylum a medical necessity or a convenient tool for his creditors?

Christopher Smart was a prominent figure in London's literary scene, known for his contributions to magazines like The Midwife and The Student. Born in 1722, he gained early recognition at Cambridge for his academic prowess and Latin verse. However, his life was defined by a persistent inability to manage his finances, leading to mounting debts that plagued him throughout his career. His marriage to Anna Maria Carnan, the stepdaughter of his publisher John Newbery, failed to provide the stability he needed, and he eventually found himself trapped in a cycle of hack work to support his family.

The most controversial period of Smart's life began in 1757, when he was committed to St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics. While some accounts suggest his confinement was triggered by public displays of religious fervor—such as praying loudly in St. James's Park—others point to the influence of Newbery, who may have used the asylum to manage Smart's debts and erratic behavior. During this period of isolation, Smart wrote his most enduring works, Jubilate Agno and A Song to David. These poems marked a departure from his earlier, more conventional style, reflecting a deep, inward-looking religious intensity that would later earn him comparisons to Milton and Keats.

After his release in 1763, Smart struggled to reclaim his professional standing. His attempts to publish translations of the Psalms were repeatedly undermined by his former publisher, Newbery, who actively sought to sabotage his efforts. Smart's final years were spent in the King's Bench Prison, where he continued to write until his death in 1771. While contemporaries often dismissed him as a madman, later generations of poets, including Robert Browning and D. G. Rossetti, recognized the profound, albeit unconventional, genius in his work, cementing his legacy as a complex figure whose life was as turbulent as his poetry was transcendent.

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