Creatures Who Advocate: An Ecocritical Reading of Jubilate Agno.

"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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]