Smart (Studies) Now.

"Smart (Studies) Now" rethinks the significance of Christopher Smart for authors, critics, and students. While writers from Frances Burney to Allen Ginsberg have rated this elusive author highly, critical appreciation has lagged, often focusing on his madness, or treating him as a hack who got lucky once. This essay extends attention from the linguistic and formal power of Smart's religious verse to highlight his generic range and cross-corpus coherence. Three imperatives to advance Smart studies are formulated: clarity about Smart's influence on authors across various periods, attention to the value and relevance of his complete corpus, and availability of a robust sample of his poetry and prose for classroom use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]