Poetry of Revolution: Romanticism and National Projects

maintenant que s’attache ma muse.” It is this spirit, one which at different points in the poem

seems to refer to a genius that is military, national, and artistic; each of these will help the poet

restore a lost faith, personally and politically. In many ways, reading this poem would recall the

observations made so far. The exploits of past heroes are praised, abundance is promised to the

land, harmony is sought, and calls are made to reawaken the current generation from rest, shame,

and vice in order to restore the former glories of the nation’s birth. God’s destiny for the nation

will ultimately come to prevail. A renewed faith in the “génie de la patrie” is the only answer to

the country’s current problems as well as to the poet’s despair. A middle section of this poem

(some of which is not legible in the print copy) contains the following plea:

Et, c’est le doute alors qui vient oser son prisme [...]

Mon front bout sous leur flamme...oh hâte-toi, Génie,

Oh! viens sauver mon cœur de l’athéisme impie !... (33, 41-42)

Non! non! –et si contr’eux il surgit dans la vie [...]

Quelques hommes méchants, aimant la calomnie,

Envieux de la gloire et du bonheur d’autrui [...]

Alors toi seul, Génie, allumant ton flambeau. (43, 46-47, 51)

Appearing in the April 14, 1837 issue of Le Républicain, this long poem of over 100 lines

of verse has long been thought to have been unfinished. Anthologies and collections claim that

this would-be masterpiece was interrupted by Nau’s death.^164 It ends with the poet announcing

a vision in which Pétion is mentioned. This is the final stanza according to this collection of

Nau’s verse.

Voici. ---Moi, j’eus hier de douces visions

Où mon cœur un instant bercé d’illusions,

Pressentit les beaux jours promis à ma Patrie,

Entouré dans le ciel d’une foule chérie [...]

De son mol édredon d’azur et de nuage

Pétion arrêtant ses regards sur la plage. (82-85, 88-89)

(^164) Berrou and Pompilus 98.