Oswald Durant - Haiti Observer Blog

Oswald Durant was one of the most important poets to come out of a nation chock full of influential, significant writers. Very little information is readily available about his childhood, save that he was born in Cap-Haïtien on the 17th of September, 1840, but the life he led past this period of no record has led him to be likened to the great wordsmiths of Italy and England, Dante and Shakespeare respectively. Also, like most other of Haiti's important writers, Durant had strong political views that, in him, formed aspirations.

Oswald Durant became published in his early thirties with works like 'La Mort de nos Cocotier's, 'Pantoum Triste' , 'Rires et Pleurs', 1883's 'Choucoune', about the comeliness of Haiti's women, and 'Chant National', a poem about Haiti's history that rose to the pinnacle of popularity for its patriotism.

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