The Annotated Letters of Christopher Smart

by Betty Rizzo (Editor), Robert Mahony A.B. Ph.D. (Editor)

The only collection of all known letters of Christopher Smart provides the best psychological explanation to date of that complex and elusive eighteenth-century poet. The significant characteristics that distinguish Smart’s prose letters from his poetry, Betty Rizzo and Robert Mahony note, are that his letters were requests for assistance while his verses were bequests, gifts in which he set great store. Indeed, it was Smart’s lifelong conviction that he was a poet of major importance. As Smart biographer Karina Williamson notes, "The splendidly informative and vivaciously written accounts of the circumstances surrounding each letter, or group of letters, add up to what is in effect a miniature biography."

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 30, 1991

Reviews

[Adam Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The letters themselves do not say much but with the annotations and the biographical inferences, this is a surprisingly moving book.