American Occupation), tie together these three chapters, with the other unifying tenet being the
Haitian Revolution itself. Anthologies and literary histories, however dismissive, date the start
of Haitian literature precisely to 1804, often starting with the Haitian declaration of
independence. Without the Haitian Revolution, it is not known if or at what point one could
speak of “Haitian” literature. The poetry of Haiti’s nineteenth century is therefore one of
Revolution, one of the many cultural repercussions, to return to Munro’s and Walcott-
Hackshaw’s study, of this monumental event. It is its own revolving topic, the one which
Haitian poets in the nineteenth century return to again and again, whether as celebration, recent
history, remote past, or renewed project.