Creatures Who Advocate: An Ecocritical Reading of Jubilate Agno

Min Wild

doi:10.1353/ecs.2024.a931694

Creatures Who Advocate: An Ecocritical Reading of Jubilate Agno

Min Wild

School of Society and Culture

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

For I pray God for the ostriches of Salisbury Plain, the beavers of the Medway and silver fish of Thames"(Jubilate Agno, B153): species extinction in Christopher Smart s unique poem is the focal point of this essay. That the poem s ecstatic scope offers a leveling care for the nonhuman has been acknowledged, but here I argue that it speaks out of abjection: The poet is the supplicant, asking all Earth s creatures to advocate for him before God. Additionally, focusing particularly on the figure of the beaver, I highlight the medieval animal fable as a valid mode of understanding better our animal kin today.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	519-526
Number of pages	8
Journal	Eighteenth-Century Studies
Volume	57
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1353/ecs.2024.a931694
Publication status	Published - Jun 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cultural Studies
General Arts and Humanities

Keywords

Beavers
Christian advocacy
Christopher Smart
Ecocriticism
Eschatology
Fable
The abject
Trauma

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1353/ecs.2024.a931694

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Creatures Who Advocate: An Ecocritical Reading of Jubilate Agno

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

UN SDGs

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