Poetry of Revolution: Romanticism and National Projects

illustrations of this surrender. This poem echoes verses from the introduction in which the

highest devotion is one to God.

La Patrie est en proie à son dernier martyre;

Vois, mon Dieu! sous les coups de ses fils elle expire !...

Pourtant je garde encore la foi ;

Et tandis qu’en mon cœur le désespoir me crie

Que vains sont nos efforts, que morte est la Patrie,

J’espère encor, toujours, en toi! (1-6)

Also as in the introductory poem, faith in God and faith in country are closely entwined:

Notre espoir est brisé, notre force est finie;

Mais ce que ne peut pas l’amour ou le génie,

Tu le pourras, mon Dieu, toi seul! (40-42)

In other parts of the poem, only the omniscient and eternal God can halt the violence,

prevent civil war, and eventually bring blessings to “la race noire et sa fille Haiti.” The poet’s

“we” appears to bring in those who share his patriotic as well his religious devotion, a

transcendent hope that the God who moves history and inspires heroism will also deliver Haiti

from its current misery.

Although it is beyond the scope of this study to explore the details of later literary works

by Coicou, it is important to reference them as part of understanding his general legacy and the

events which transpired between this seminal work and the political involvement which led to his

assassination in 1908. When Coicou left Haiti to spend four years in Paris in 1900, he embarked

upon a journey which would expand his literary activity and solidify his political ideologies.

Coicou went to Paris after having been named the “secrétarie de la légation d’Haïti à Paris,” in

charge of Haitian affairs in France. As part of this public role, he represented Haiti at the

centennial celebration of Victor Hugo’s birth in 1902, spoke on the occasion of the death of

Pierre Lafitte, and lectured in the VIème arrondissement at the invitation of August Dorchain.