Poetry of Revolution: Romanticism and National Projects

Mes oiseaux palmistes,

Chantez là-bas, dans les tamariners!

Chantez! Nous sommes tristes;

Egayez donc les pauvres prisonniers! (29-32)

The difference in the first and final refrain is subtle. Rather than stating that the birds

sing, [ils] chantent, the poet in this stanza uses the imperative, [vous] chantez. The refrain is no

longer a mere statement, since the subject dictates what poetry should express.

The other poem, “Choucoune,” recounts the story of how a poet loses the Haitian woman

he loves to a French-speaking foreigner.^233 It was set to music during Durand’s lifetime by the

Haitian musician Mauléart Monton and survives today as a famous Haitian folk song. While

both its linguistic achievement and provocative theme have ensured its on-going popularity, its

place within Rires et Pleurs remains overlooked. The poem, alluded to at different points

throughout this chapter, is the one text which seems to draw on all the themes one would

associate with Durand’s poetry It deals with romantic love, love of country, the role of the poet,

nature in the countryside, imperialism, and racial politics in a post-colonial society. The poem

begins as the poet declares his love for Choucoune, whom he plans to marry. They have the

blessings of her family, and even nature sings of their love. The conflict arises when suddenly a

“petit blanc” arrives.^234 The reasons Choucoune leaves the poet are simply stated: “Il trouve

Choucoune jolie,/Il parle Français...Choucoune l’aime.” She also becomes pregnant by the

white foreigner. At the end of each stanza, a refrain contrasts the past story with the painful

emotion of the present. Since the day Choucoune left, the poet laments “mes deux pieds sont

(^233) A French translation of this Haitian Creole poem can be found in Louis Morpeau’s Anthologie d’un siècle de
poésie haïtienne, 1817-1925, avec une étude sur la muse haïtienne d’expression française et une étude sur la muse
haïtienne d’expression créole (Paris : Bossard, 1925).
(^234) In colonial Saint-Domingue, the ‘petits blancs’ were the white, merchant class as opposed to the large plantation
owners, the ‘grands blancs.’ The pejorative connotation of it in this poem, however, cannot be ignored.