Please do not steal or copy my work.
For Class, we were assigned to create a montage project on something in history or our personal history. At the time doing something personal would have been painful. So, I did something historical. I have always been facinated by the French Revolution.
Introduction Poem
The Revolution: Narrated by Terror - La Révolution: Rapporté par Terreur
I was
Spreading.
Like blood,
I raced through
The boiling
veins of men.
Casting
doubt upon tranquil lives of deception.
I
saw nothing tranquil in my children starving.
The Yankees
embraced me first,
With hearts
of rage
And
passionate revenge desired.
They craved
the flesh of victory between their teeth.
Taxes,
drought, debt, cattle disease.
With the
precision, similar to my brother Plague,
I leisurely
strolled to France.
And what a
time I had,
Dwelling in
the minds of the masses.
Their
ignorance can be tolerated no more.
The
messieurs and maquerelles
Invited me
to their lovely homes,
Where the
ideas of
Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity- were disregarded.
Oh,
how they will forfeit their power amongst screams.
Their dead
thoughts,
I hold them
sensually to my chest.
As the sweet
blood from their paper necks
Stain my
hands, warming them.
Vive la Révolution.
Monologue Poem
Writing to
You with Love - Écrivant à vous avec amour
October 14,
1793.
Beloved diary,
I write you
in hopes of gaining courage.
(Though I
know I will gain none.)
Today, I was
brought before the Revolutionary tribunal.
They looked
upon me with disgust-which I am starting to get used to.
I remember
the days, the wonderful days,
When all I
had to do was stand upon a stool
As my tailor
fitted my gowns,
When I sat
in front of my vanity
As my hair
was done and my wigs adorned
With
beautiful feathers and vividly colored birds-
And the
time, with the miniature boat,
It was quite
a lovely boat…
I miss those
days.
Truly I do.
The men,
They adored
me, you know.
Of course, I
never did as the rumors suggested.
I only
teased with my favorite pink fan,
As it
shielded my face, only showing my bright eyes,
Hiding my
smile, so full of pleasure,
As I watched
their lusts drive them to insanity-
Completely losing
their heads.
I do not
mean that unkindly,
Of course
not.
But when one
has a husband like mine,
Who does not
care whether you are near or not,
You crave
the attention of those unattainable.
Now, more
than ever,
I wish he
were never my husband.
My poor head
greatly aches.
The lighting
in here is very dull.
It is also
very cold.
Bitterly
cold, I wish for illness to take me,
In two days time.
The thought
of my head…
In a pool of
blood,
In an old
whicker basket,
How did it
come to this?
Documentary Poem
For all we
know - Pour tout ce que nous savons
Thank you
for joining us today.
Shall we
Begin?
If you look
to your left, you will see what helped spur the French Revolution:
-The
American Revolution
-Enlightenment
ideals
Popular Sovereignty
Inalienable Rights
All that
must have sent the people of France’s heads whirling. Must have caused them to
think of what life could possibly be like.
Could you
blame them?
Now,
The les états généraux was summoned; - an
assembly representing France’s clergy, nobility, and middle class- the meeting
was set for May 5, 1789. This had not
happened since 1614.
While waiting for this date, delegates
compiled cahiers de doléances for the king:
King Louis XVI
The
assembly was put together because, in the fall of 1786, Louis XVI’s
controller general, Charles Alexandre de
Calonne, proposed a financial reform package that dealt with a universal
land tax from which the privileged classes would no longer be exempt- the
meeting was a measure of forestalling a growing aristocratic revolt.
Because
the Lower classes revolting was less threatening.
Naturally.
The non-aristocratic members of the Third
Estate now embodied 98% of the people.
But they could still be outvoted by the other
two heads.
The
Third estate mobilized support for equal representation.
They
wanted voting by head and not by status.
When the Estates-General convened at
Versailles, the very public debate rose to levels of hostility, among the three
orders.
June 17, 1789: the Third Estate met
alone and officially adopted the title of National Assembly. Three days later they took the serment du
jeu de paume, vowing not to disperse until
constitutional reform had been achieved.
A week later, most of the
clerical deputies and 47 liberal nobles joined the.
June 27: Louis XVI immersed all three orders to
make a new assembly.
Resentfully.
Shall we
continue?
I do hope your feet do not feel sore.
Onwards.
June 12: while the National Assembly continued to
collaborate at Versailles, emotions ran thick as terror and violence ran hand
in hand joyously through the capital.
Despite
enthusiasm about the breakdown of royal power, Parisians were anxious as rumors flew of a possibly impending
military coup began to travel.
July 14: the Bastille fortress is
stormed to secure gunpowder and weapons.
Many
consider this the start of the Revolution.
It is a national holiday in France.
You will receive miniature flags on your way
out.
Questions?
No?
Wonderful.
Waves of the revolution swept up the country
in swells of hysteria.
Peasants looted and burned homes of:
-Tax Collectors
-Landlords
-Seigniorial Elite
I would do this too if I had the chance.
What about you sir?
Oh, I beg your pardon.
You are a vital member of society.
Anyways,
The la Grande peur: the agrarian rebellion
hastened the growing evacuation of nobles from the country and inspired the
National Constitution Assembly to abolish Feudalism on August 4, 1789.
Georges
Lefebvre later called it the “death
certificate of the old order”.
Déclaration des droits de
l'homme et du citoyen: “The document
proclaimed the Assembly’s commitment to
replace the ancient regime with a system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty and
representative government.”
To Your left is a painting of the day.
September 3, 1791: France’s first
written constitution echoed the more moderate voices in the Assembly. It established
a constitutional monarchy in which the king had royal veto power and the
ability to appoint ministers.
As
you can imagine, this did not sit well with some. Influential radicals like Maximilien de Robespierre, Camille Desmoulins and Georges Danton were full of bitter
blood. They created popular support
for a more republican form of government. Louis
XVI was put on trial.
April 1792: The new Legislative Assembly declared war on
Austria and Prussia. They were feeling quite daring. It was believed, in these
countries, French émigrés were building counterrevolutionary alliances. It was also
hoped that warfare would spread thick the revolutionary ideals across Europe.
Meanwhile,
looking domestically, the political crisis took a major turn when a group of
insurgents led by the extremist Jacobins attacked the royal home in Paris and
gleefully arrested the king on August 10,
1792.
January 10, 1793: King Louis XVI was
sent to the guillotine for high treason and crimes against the state.
Nine
months late, 1793, his wife Marie
Antoinette was executed by the ever popular guillotine,
as well.
No longer would she be the life of the party.
Please exit on your right.
Thank you.
Conclusion
Poem
The Future: Narrated by Hope - L'avenir: Rapporté par l'espoir
For ten months they hid
Amongst severed heads and blood,
Which dried prettily in patterns
On their rough soles.
We were free by words, not action.
Blindly feeling their way.
I took pity,
I could not leave them in such
Despairing conditions.
Would we ever eat the fruits of our
murderous labor?
I could not wait for the days
When they would commemorate
All they endured
With such dazzling celebration.
What are we fighting to save-only broken
pieces of a dream.
If only they could see
All that they would become.
They would fight with more dignity,
Defend with youthful vigor.
We can go on, but for how much longer is the
question.
They will see.
No longer will Terror reign,
No longer will they cry out to heaven.
They will be revived by shock alone.
We are slave to our mistress, Hope.
