prefigures the quotes of Haitian poets to be found at the beginning of several poems in the first
book of Rires et Pleurs. As mentioned earlier, Durand cites both Haitian and French poets in
epigraphs and dedicates many of his pieces to Haitian poets in former or current generations. It
is with the 1887 poem “Chant National,” located about three-fourths of the way through the first
book of Rires et Pleurs, that these epigraphs and dedications serve to establish Durand’s own
importance as a poet. He literally inscribes his own poetry within these two literatures. Before
beginning “Chant National,” Durand quotes himself. He selects the following verse from his
poem “Aux Cubains,” found earlier in the collection: “Derrière la charrue, au travail résignée,/
Marche à grands pas la liberté!” and adds in parentheses “O.D.” Durand has outlined the
progression of Haitian literature which ends in this work. It began with the document declaring
national independence, continued to develop within the broader trends of Romanticism, and
boasts uniqueness rooted in Haitian landscape and history. The deliberate references to both
French and Haitian literary icons reveal Durand’s intent throughout Rires et Pleurs to shape his
poetry by these two vectors of influence. Highlighting French poets permits Durand to reference
literature which would be recognized by a wider readership and one which, as detailed in
Chapter Two, had undoubtedly influenced Haitian literary trends. Simultaneously, it is by
referencing Haitian poets that Durand asserts his commitment to continuing a national poetic
tradition. The textual proximity of these French and Haitian sources in Durand’s “Dédicace,” as
within the entire collection, works to reduce the distance between the two literatures on a formal
level and thereby eliminates the hierarchy that would privilege European originality. While this
does not mean that Durand envisioned the French and Haitian traditions as identical, he
powerfully suggests that as national literatures the two can coexist in equality and
distinctiveness.