(Born in 1876 at Port-au-Prince; died in 1936)
Known as a brilliant student and public speaker, Damoclès Vieux became a French, Latin and Greek professor. He also held public office at various points in his life, including Head and Minister of Public Education and of Agriculture. He directed the Alexandre Pétion high school (which he had attended) for most of the 1920s. Grief following the death of his son is thought to have sparked his poetic career (Estépha), leading to works works published in La Ronde and Le Nouvelliste as well as in poetry anthologies: the 1913 L’Aile Captive and the posthumously edited 1947 Dernières Floraisons.
Biography by Emeline Frix, 2023
Estépha, Jean James. "Damoclès Vieux." Web site Ile en Ile, 2021. https://ile-en-ile.org/vieux/ Text in French followed by a rich bibliography.
Morpeau, Louis. Anthologie d'un siècle de poésie haïtienne 1817-1925. Bossard, 1924.
Vieux, Damoclès. L’Aile Captive. Paris: Albert Messein, 1913.
Vieux, Damoclès. Dernières Floraisons. Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie de l’État, 1947.
L'Attente / The Wait