Poetry of Revolution: Romanticism and National Projects

(Sean Pound) #1

fraction of the population.^106 In spite of these obstacles, literate and French-speaking Haitians


felt compelled to participate journalistically in the public sphere. This Haitian editor, Dumai


Lespinsasse, a life-long lawyer, journalist, and editor of future newspapers in Haiti goes on to


declare that this journal will be, for those who contribute to it, a way to serve their country. A


people making progress, he argues, must begin to cultivate scientific and literary activity,


regardless of the portion of the society who will directly partake or benefit from these endeavors:


Travaillons à nous rendre dignes de cette tâche, ne laissons point se perdre dans
nos mains, le bel héritage qui nous a été transmis. Les sciences, les arts, et la
philosophie dominant aujourd’hui le globe, cédons au torrent ascension du siècle
[...] l’avenir de notre pays n’est pas un mystère. Haïti est une terre promise
...ayons foi en cette patriotique prophétie. Les lumières et le dévouement à la
patrie, voilà notre boussole, notre culte [...] chacun y apportera son modeste
tribut...et toutes les pensées, tous les efforts convergeront vers un seul but, la
prospérité nationale et la propagation des lumières...^107

Emile Nau, again in his essay on literature, acknowledged the many obstacles in Haiti to

a flourishing literary development. “Public misery,” he states, keeps any individual in Haiti from


completely devoting himself to artistic activity. He adds:


Après la misère et l’indifférence publique, l’isolement, l’absence de l’émulation,
la rareté des bons livres, et là un certain courage, non pas à vaincre les obstacles
mais à lutter contre eux; celui qui n’a pas succombé dans cette lutte, [ ... ] avec
une force de volonté et une indépendance d’intelligence qui sont d’admirables
ressources en toute sorte d’analyse...^108

In spite of the debates of the period, Haitian intellectuals in the nineteenth century were

in many ways less concerned about the type of writing prevalent in Haiti than they were about


writing at all. Returning to the issue or importance of personal poetry, Ardouin’s poem “La


Plaine,” for example, which was never completed, describes the worldly misery which serves as


a backdrop against the poet’s plight. Despite the adverse conditions, the poet/bird takes off and


(^106) Anderson 46.
(^107) Le Républicain le 15 août 1836.
(^108) Le Républicain le 15 août 1836.

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