component of all civilization. Given these qualities, he argues, poetry precedes even a people’s
history:
Elle est coéternelle à Dieu, donc elle ne peut mourir. Elle a précédé la création.
Avant que les peuples aient eu leur histoire, ils ont eu leurs poètes. Et que
deviendrait le monde sans la Poésie? Ne retomberait-il pas d’emblée dans la
matière...La Poésie est la plus haute expression de l’art.^250Williams explains in the beginning that poetry may encompass all art and takes manyforms and that poetry is above the form through which it is expressed. Written verse is the
modern expression of this long-standing and universal occurrence. The belief in the eternal
nature of poetry meant that it was the genre of choice for many serious writers and its spiritual
quality also meant that it was worthy of being appropriated for a national purpose.
Echoing the assertions of Haitian poets in the 1830s, Williams explains that all peoplesthroughout time have had their poets. For Williams, as for many nineteenth-century Haitian
thinkers, Haitian poets are not only engaging in practices known even to “primitive” peoples, but
they are also practicing traditions akin to ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Latin writers. He refers to
the ancient Judea and the poet’s role as prophet. Although Williams does not mention specific
texts, one may recall the Hebrew poetry in Old Testament books like David’s Psalms and the
Book of Isaiah which foretells a messianic age and humanity’s final judgment. Williams also
mentions the poets of Athens and the veneration Greeks had for their divinely inspired poets.
Ancient Greek poetry is part of the Western literature which Williams outlines. Moreover, in
studying Coicou’s poetry, the important influence of Greek literary traditions like didactic poetry
and elegy are shown to bear their mark on the content and form of many of Coicou’s texts.
(^250) Charles Williams, préface, Poésies Nationales, by Massillon Coicou (Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Panorama,
1892) 15-24.