Poetry of Revolution: Romanticism and National Projects

The poem as it is appears in Le Républicain, however, contains a remaining 32 lines and

seems to come to a close. The missing part in anthologies is in many ways what distinguishes it

from “Le Pont Rouge” and “Dessalines:” the revolutionary leader and former mulatto president

(1806-1821), Alexandre Pétion, speaks for the next twenty lines. It is he who embodies the

efforts not just of slaves but of all national ‘martyrs’ from the revolutionary period. In this part

of the poem it is Pétion’s voice, surfacing from the past, which summons up the génie in this

time of need:

Prends ton casque, ô Génie, ou flotte un noir cimier [...]

Et de tes regards d’aigle embrassant nos campagnes...

Et l’immense archipel, du haut de tes gradins

Veillent sur nos enfants et leurs jeunes destins! (102, 105-107)

Throughout the poem’s descriptions, the past and present are conflated, and the vision of

Pétion’s presence on the beach mingles with images of current national weakness, revolutionary

victories, and accomplished freedoms. In response to the other poems then, this text

demonstrates that mulattos, if cherishing national unity and committed to racial equality and the

abolition of slavery, still have a voice. It is important to point out that the Pétion envisioned here

is not the one later claimed by mulatto historians as the legitimate Haitian leader of the republic

in the years of Haiti’s political and geographical division after Dessalines’ demise. Rather, he is

portrayed here as a national leader interested in transnational relations and extending freedoms

throughout the hemisphere. This is the war hero who served under and united with Dessalines to

secure victory in the last phase of the Haitian Revolution and who sought to promote freedom in

South America through aid to Simon Bolivar.^165 The last image of Pétion in this poem reveals

him folding the blue and red Haitian flag, the original flag created by Dessalines, which was

(^165) Pétion allowed Simon Bolivar to seek solace in Haiti during the Latin American wars for independence. He also
provide Bolivar with money to continue his fight, with the stipulation that once free from Spain Bolivar would
abolish slavery in Spain’s former colonies.