This lecture, published in written form, was entitled Le génie français et l’âme haïtienne.^300 In
this essay, Coicou elaborates on the positive points of contact and the free-flow of Enlightenment
ideals which began with the French Revolution and spawned a “perpetual contact” which
continued to link intellectuals from France and Haiti throughout the next century. He highlights
the reciprocal nature of events and ideas, arguing for example that the achievements of Haitian
revolutionaries inspired the thoughts and writings of French poets like Lamartine, whose play in
verse called “Toussaint Louverture” Coicou admiringly calls a beautiful gesture of artistic
innovation. The commitment to human freedom, poetic sensibilities, and belief in God may
transcend allegiance to nation or race. Beyond the specifics in Coicou’s essay about French and
Haitian connections, this work symbolizes a search for spiritual community whether through
literary, historical, or religious notions.
Coicou was indeed active in Paris’s literary scene. His play “Liberté” about the abolitionof slavery in colonial Saint-Domingue in 1793 was performed at the Théâtre Cluny in 1904. He
also published in 1903 two collections of poetry: the early love poems Passions as well as one
entitled Impressions, a collection of some his most religious and metaphysical poems. The
poems in Impressions are indeed more in line with the eclectic, spiritual and non-political vein of
La Ronde. One of the poems in this collection, “Crépuscle” was published in this journal. A
true deviation from the poetic themes in Poésies Nationales, however, is difficult to document.
Most of the poems in Impressions are not dated and are strikingly similar to those published in
La Ronde. Also important to note is the subtitle to Impressions, “poésies de la vingtième à la
trentième année” which would suggest that they were authored from 1887 to 1897, making them
concurrent with the texts in Poésies Nationales. One hypothesis is that Coicou did not
(^300) Coicou, Le génie français et l’âme haïtienne (Paris : Librairie de la renaissance latine, 1904).