Poetry of Revolution: Romanticism and National Projects

changed: his hands, as he holds hers, are now “presque blanches.” An eerie transformation has

indeed taken place and involves along with physical changes an unwelcome difference in speech:

“Manoune” –me dit-il; --et ses douces paroles

Me faisaient frissonner sur mes genoux tremblants!—

--Il laissait, ce jour-là, le patois des créoles,

Pour me parler, hélas! Le langage des blancs!

“Manoune, tu sais bien que j’ai rêvé la gloire

Pour la mettre à tes pieds! Et qu’une heure, avec toi,

“Seul à seul, loin des yeux, vaut tout le ciel pour moi!”

-“Maintenant s’il m’oublie, à qui donc faut-il croire?” (25-32)

This question of forgetting is later followed by the question of abandonment. Although

Pierre consistently claims that his ambition is to bring her glory, Manoune sees his actions as

nothing other than disloyalty. Under the pretense of love, this “ingrat” has only brought her

suffering. The refrain of the poem warns Manoune not to trust the fleeting nature of love and to

be wary of its superficial and capricious declarations.

This poem is unusual in Rires et Pleurs for the way in which it highlights the devastation

which can result from a poet’s betrayal. Pierre in this poem is shown to be a shifting figure

whose capacity to transform in different milieus and to posture various identities can work to

bestow honor or to cause disillusionment. If Pierre is not to be trusted, then who is to be

believed? If the poet cannot sustain his loyalty to Haiti when seduced by outside influences, then

where is the hope for someone like Manoune? Although politicians may waver in their alliances,

the poetic subject in Durand’s collection has, from the onset, claimed commitment to the nation.

Moreover, Haitian intellectuals since the 1830s and through the late nineteenth-century cite the

importance of Haitian poets in helping to create national identity and in bringing prestige to their

nation. The power the poet holds stems from the great need for these national representatives, as

Firmin and Janvier see it, but also from the ability the poet possesses to choose or not to choose

the beneficiaries of his talent. This poem overtly addresses the issue of language and the