“Patrie,” which can only be realized in poetry, becomes a transcendent national ideal which will
surpass internal divisions. Moving from the muse to the Patrie, and then to God, however, the
following verse has the Patrie as “elle,” and the poet more powerfully addresses God directly
when he says “Pour elle inspire-moi; comme elle, inspire-moi.” By linking the political with the
religious, the poet echoes Williams’ notion that poetry will serve to immortalize what may be an
ephemeral national existence. Finally, Coicou anchors national sentiment in his own religious
beliefs, proclaiming his personal faith in God and bestowing on this idealized Haiti a greater
spiritual significance.
4.3 WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
4.3.1 Triumphant imperialism and foreign invasions
Poésies Nationales is divided into three books, the first one largely about Haitian history,the second about Haiti’s internal politics and civil war, and third mostly about the poet’s
reflections on Haiti’s situation in general. Throughout, however, are the poems about the threat
of invasion, the loss of sovereignty, and the need for awakening. The texts themselves mirror the
political reality, with the dominant themes generally repetitive in the collection, not perfectly
conforming to the general layout of the sections. The poems are highly discursive, each one
containing multiple themes, layered tones, and changing sentiment. For this analysis, it will
mean treating Coicou’s poems discursively, returning again and again to the same poems for
discussion of various themes. Coicou’s poems, so didactic in nature, contain many political and