Poetry of Revolution: Romanticism and National Projects

poems attest to his ability to separate these celebrated aspects of French history and culture from

France’s practice of slavery and Napoleon’s efforts to reinstate it:

J’ai montré dans mes écrits le profond amour, le culte même que je voue à cette

noble contrée. Après 1871, c’est en pleurant que j’ai composé mon ode à la

France; qu’on lise Ces allemands...mes adieux au capitaine Portier, mon salut de

bienvenue à M. Frédéric Febre....^237

The historical context of these poems is also important to consider: two of these, “Ode à

la France” and “Ces allemands,” are related in circumstances in that both concern German

aggression. “Ode à la France” appears to have been written during or shortly after the Prussian

War, based on the references to battles and generals mentioned in the poem. The poem reveals

strong support for France in the conflict and expresses hope that France will recover her former

glory. “Ces allemands” was written in 1872 after what Haitians know as the Batsch affair in

which a German commodore seized two Haitian warships in the harbor of Port-au-Prince and

defaced the Haitian flag. According to Michael Heinl, Haiti’s support for France had not gone

unnoticed by the Germans. This incident “was ostensibly a debt-collecting foray on behalf of

German merchants, but was in fact a reminder to Haiti as to who had won the Franco-Prussian

War.”^238 The idea of Germany as a common enemy of both Haiti and France is reflected in “Ces

allemands” at the beginning and here at the end of the poem:

Mais ainsi qu’à la France, à la bande guerrière

--Allemands, doublés de Prussiens –

Nous jetâmes l’argent, le front haut, l’âme fière,

Ainsi qu’on jette un os aux chiens! (29-32)

In these poems the mutability of Durand’s writing comes to focus, as he alters his

message according to events as well as to the times. He postures as more of an anti-imperialist

(^237) Oswald Durand, Les Bigailles (Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie de l’Abeille, 1901--?).
(^238) Michael Heinl, Written in Blood: the story of the Haitian people, 1492-1995 (Lanham: University Press of
America, 1996) 243.