(Born in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, 1778; died in Cap Haïtien in 1842)
The son of a fervent French abolitionist father who relocated to Paris to fight to end slavery during the French Revolution, Jules-Solime Milscent was educated and lived in France until 1806. Upon return to Haiti in 1816 (Berrou 35), he worked as a clerk for the Haitian Republic's Court of Cassation in Port-au-Prince (Berrou 35; Morpeau 33-34) where he founded (and edited) the journal L'Abeille haytienne as of 1817 (Berrou 35). He helped write the Haitian Code civil and by 1832, he was an elected member of the Chamber of Deputies and by 1838 its President (Berrou 35). Milscent wrote odes, epistles, fables, songs, and he dabbled in playwriting. He died at the age of 64 during an earthquake that shook the city of Cap-Haitien (Morpeau 33-34).
Biography by Emeline Frix, 2022
Berrou Raphaël, and Pradel Pompilus. Histoire de la littérature haïtienne illustrée par les textes. Ed. Caraïbes, 1975.
Morpeau, Louis. Anthologie d'un siècle de poésie haïtienne 1817-1925. Bossard, 1924.
Le Secret d'être heureux / The Secret to Happiness
Page image: Detail from Victor Hugo, "Le Phare des Casquets" (The Casquets Lighthouse), 1866. Maison de Victor Hugo - Hauteville House https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/maison-de-victor-hugo/oeuvres/le-phare-des-casquets