To Toussaint Louverture - poem by Wordsworth

The sonnet, To Toussaint L'Ouverture by the British poet William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770 Cockermouth, Cumberland – April 13, 1850) gives an example of how closely the Toussaint Louverture's actions and later imprisonment by the French at Fort de Joux, were followed around the world. The Haitian Revolutionary Toussaint Louverture, died in French captivity in the dungeon at Fort de Joux on April 7, 1803.

Mary Persyn, in her article The Sublime Turn Away from Empire, makes the argument that the Haitian Revolution - and Toussaint Louverture's role in it - heavily influenced Wordsworth during his early years. (Persyn)

created 1802, ~August 1-29; published 1803, Morning Post, London, February 2, 1803

In his autobiographical text Memoir of Toussaint Louverture, Written by Himself, Toussaint Louverture writes: "...I am made the most unhappy of men; my liberty is taken from me..." (Beard p. 325)