.

Storming the Bastille

from eyewitness accounts

July the twelfth, the City of Light was filled
With brigands bought by dimes and dismal speech;
How cheap to buy a riot in this heat—
Yet hard to rouse Parisians so soft-willed.

Louts rant of bread withheld, but within reach,
Shout massacre and tyranny complete,
While Paris lies defenseless from all hell
As bandits steal, thugs stab, and strumpets screech.

After a night of terror on the street,
Each home is a locked and frightened citadel
Where unnerved dwellers rise, determined to
Defend themselves, as bourgeois squadrons meet.

But not before a gang assails pell-mell
The Maison Saint-Lazare, and slams askew
Its almsdeeds. Books and art the rogues besmirch,
Then die of drinking stolen muscatel.

They’re spurred by shady agitators who
Despise and shriek like fiends against the Church;
Those vixens and villains sport self-righteous smiles
Of hate for good the clergy and nobles do.

Still, by evening, the rascals’ frantic lurch
Is quelled by honest men in ordered files,
But schemers lie, “The people’s arms are kept
In Bastille halls. Let’s break in there and search.”

Danton one royal officer beguiles,
“You’ve lost your post—a new pursuit accept.
King Mob now reigns, and fortunes will be made;
No gain you grab in desperate times defiles.”

Next morning, persons toward the Bastille swept
Acclaim the king for coming to their aid,
Arming the sane against a world gone mad,
But later in the day, aghast, they wept.

The Bastille guard surrendered to the raid
Because their upright king bloodshed forbade;
Hundreds of brigands therefore crowded in,
And wrought the slaughter plotters could not evade.

The reprobate barbarians ill-clad
Ignored the honor practiced until then,
Although Hulin, their leader, would have saved
Opponents from his mindless myriad.

But no! The bloody beheading regimen
Of revolution burst forth here. Depraved
Ways shocked the worthy workers who took part;
True men of the people never led again.

The fortress lost was left to those who raved,
“Equality! Fraternity!” No heart
Had they for countless brothers to be killed
When Liberty, false god, the realm enslaved.

Eight inmates slain, while four freed forgers dart
Away to hide, leaves two on stage who’re billed
Bastille survivors, crazed ere first detained—
For Charenton Asylum they depart.

.

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Bastille Day, a French national holiday on July14, commemorates the 1789 event.

Georges Danton: revolutionary called “The Thunderer,” guillotined during the Reign of Terror

Pierre Hulin: soldier turned on-the-spot leader of the people at the Bastille, who tried but failed to assure safety for opponents who had surrendered

.

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Margaret Coats lives in California.  She holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.  She has retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable work in homeschooling for her own family and others.

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25 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Besides the sheer brilliance of the poetry, this is a stark and frightening depiction of mob rule and revolution that lusts for blood and power insensitive to wanton murder and driven by lying supposed leaders. They are aided and abetted by those who cavil on the use of force to suppress the furor. We would do well to heed the lessons of this infamous assault on civility. Your ability to draw on the eyewitness accounts and put it into such powerful poetic words is awesome.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Roy. The eyewitness accounts tell what happens when authorities are lax and lenient for too long. Nesta Webster, in the book recommended below by Joseph Salemi, tells how the 14 July attack on the Bastille really began on 27 June, when a factory owned by a political figure was destroyed. That was when hooligans and rival politicians who paid them realized they could get away with anything. Matters escalated to terrorizing the entire city. Day before the Bastille was the now unremembered Sack of Saint-Lazare, when the largest charitable institution in the city was demolished, with windows and furniture broken as well as everything portable stolen. The Bastille only added beheadings. You are right that we need to heed these lessons.

      Reply
  2. Daniel Kemper

    Hi Margaret~

    OK! This was gratifying to read. I am soooo tired of the false equivalencies between the French revolution and this event and the American Revolution. One talks of social phenomena like “brain drains,” at the start of the cold war, but perhaps there was a morality drain which predated this to form the American Colonies. It’s so hard to find a people or culture A. willing to give up power and B. willing to be trustworthy enough to treat those well who give it up. This poem was a pleasure and relief to read. A realistic, truthful narrative at last!

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Daniel, you are correct that the Bastille event is usually presented as a revolt against tyranny, with common people fighting nobly to free a horde of Les Miserables from grim dungeons. I’m glad to have done this little to show that the truth is no battle and few prisoners–most of whom succumbed to the rage of their rescuers while lucky ones escaped to carry on crime in the future. I’m just surprised that the French continue to celebrate revolutionary horrors they know about full well. I have never heard them deplored so deeply as in France, by persons who call it “la revolution dite francaise,” “the revolution called French,” because it does not accord with genuine national values. They know as well as you that the American revolution proceeded quite differently. Thanks for your appreciation.

      Reply
  3. Joseph S. Salemi

    The failure of a temporizing King to authorize the use of lethal force against rioters is what led to the fall of the Bastille. This excellent poem shows the result, in gory detail.

    A near-contemporary of all this mayhem, Napoleon Bonaparte, when faced with a unruly mob in the streets of Paris, told his soldiers to give the rabble “a whiff of grapeshot.” Today, that would be “rake them with heavy machine-gun fire.” And still today in French the word for machine-gun is “la mitrailleuse” (the grapeshot gun).

    I recommend Nesta H. Webster’s book “The French Revolution” as the very best account of the entire bloody nightmare.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Joe, for deeming the poem excellent, and for recommending Nesta Webster’s book several years ago. It is certainly the best account, as it cites and reveals to the reader the original source material published at the time and later by persons with living memory of those times, whatever their political views. Her “French Revolution” is now over 100 years old, but has been reprinted three times by different companies in recent years. It contains 60 pages on the Bastille alone. One line of my poem is Webster’s: “True men of the people never led again.” She regards Pierre Hulin, son of a draper, as the last manifestation of popular action in the entire history of revolution. He came to the Bastille without followers, and was thus unable to influence what he helped to start. Launay, commander of the Bastille troops, who refused to use his guns because of King Louis’ orders, was beheaded (the first of so very many) despite Hulin’s personal defense of him. Hulin was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror, but survived to become one of Napoleon’s generals.

      Reply
  4. Mary Gardner

    This is a powerful and vivid poem, Margaret.
    I see similarities in our current America.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Mary. We do have weak leadership and a selective neglect of crime that can only encourage more crime. And though I didn’t touch on it in the poem, France was suffering from poor financial management and intense political rivalry.

      Reply
  5. Rohini

    Margaret, this is truly brilliantly told. One can visualise the chaotic scenes through your lines. And that last verse just hit home.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Interesting observation, Rohini. The pitiful insanity of those two Bastille survivors is indeed comparable to the despair of sane persons living through those chaotic scenes. Thanks for your comment!

      Reply
  6. Yael

    Another great history lesson and smoothly rhymed, thank you Margaret! It’s always good to be reminded of these historical events, because history either rhymes or it repeats itself.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      That’s fun, Yael. History does have a way of repeating itself, and sometimes we are very far into one of the repetitions when we realize it. But what do you mean by saying history rhymes? I do thank you for the praise of my smooth rhymes!

      Reply
      • Yael

        “You might think history teaches; it repeats;
        page after page, a poem in perfect rhyme
        tolls echoing bells from both sides of the sheets
        for births and funerals, tells the time
        of ageless Alice, Hamlet’s fallacies—
        the latest light from vanished galaxies.”
        These lines are attributed to one Harold Witt.
        Speaking only for myself, what I mean by history rhyming: everything under the sun has been or will be put into beautiful poetry and song lyrics, and there is so much I can learn if I just pay attention. It’s only if I disregard or forget the rhyming lessons and admonitions which I learned that I’m forced to participate in the tragic repetition of violent history. The wise preacher said: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9

      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Harold Witt was an excellent formal poet, and he was for some time associated with the poetry magazine Blue Unicorn, which still exists.

      • Margaret Coats

        Thanks for another recommendation, Joe. I just read some splendid Harold Witt.

    • Margaret Coats

      Thanks, Yael, for introducing these fine lines by Harold Witt, and for recalling the well-known ones of Ecclesiastes. As you apply them, both help to take a brighter, more artistic view of repetitive events that cause some readers to tend to despair. All to the good!

      Reply
  7. Frank Rable

    A dramatic depiction of a civilized people in close contact with one another, out of control, and either raging, cowering, or horrified. As I read it, the pace suggested to me a high speed runaway society, the alliteration providing potholes and speed bumps to jolt you. Wow!

    I am a bit of a history buff. Could you tell? 🙂

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Glad to have a speedway comment by a history buff, Frank. I agree with you that France was on a runaway course leading to the Reign of Terror, which I allude to in the next-to-last stanza. Most people probably were, as you suggest, raging, cowering, or horrified. The Carmelites of Compiegne specifically offered their lives on July 17, 1794, to apply the brakes. That’s another story, but the Terror ended only days later, leaving France and the world an uneasy road into the future. Thank you for reading and responding!

      Reply
  8. Jeff Eardley

    Margaret, as frequent visitors to the Vendee region of France, we are always staggered at the blood-letting that took place there post-revolution. Your poem is a reminder of how the whole thing started and is a history lesson of the highest quality.
    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Jeff. I’ve visited the Vendee twice, and please excuse me for feeling a need to set out things you probably know. The Vendee met the full force of revolutionary fury because, as a region united with local leaders, it resisted the revolution for the sake of altar and throne. The result was the modern prototype of every totalitarian genocide that has occurred since. You may have seen how each little village church has an honour roll of martyrs listing residents from babies a few days old to the most venerable of elders. You’ve seen how there are precious few buildings of the ancien regime because nearly all were destroyed. You’ve probably noticed many hectares of waste land (in a nation with countryside heavily devoted to agriculture) because revolutionaries spread salt over farmland to make it infertile–and made sure the salt sank in by deporting whatever population was left and not allowing return or resettlement for many years. In spite of all this, I’m always pleased to visit because the Vendee maintains a high spiritual culture, even in obvious material signs like wayside shrines and crosses and statues. Thanks again for directing attention to this heroic people!

      Reply
  9. Brian A. Yapko

    Margaret, I want to make sure I comment on this excellent poem even if I can’t give it the detailed discussion I would like. Perhaps there will be more anon. In the meantime, let me say that the craft you have put into this poem is exceptional — especially your wonderful use of rhyme. I love your rhyme scheme, by the way, with rhymes carried over from prior stanzas sandwiched in between the first and fourth of each.)

    But it is the content of the poem that is most striking — you have set forth the history of the storming of the Bastille so cogently and engagingly that it is both easy to read and highly instructive. Today, of course, is Bastille Day and, although it now seems to be treated as a French equivalent of Cinco de Mayo, I hesitate to encourage revelry when there is little to celebrate about a chaotic, murderous mob. destroying order, tradition and beauty while a weak king vacillates. It’s way too modern.

    Something about these lines really strikes me on this, the morning after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump: “The fortress lost was left to those who raved,/“Equality! Fraternity!” No heart/Had they for countless brothers to be killed/When Liberty, false god, the realm enslaved.”

    This poem, Margaret, is an excellent depiction of a historical moment in time which should be used as teaching material on the French Revolution.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Yes, Brian, the attempted assassination of President Trump shows inhuman violence directed not only at him, but against the large number of Americans who support him and his ideals. One of these, Corey Comperatore, lost his life while protecting his wife and daughters from the gunman firing at Trump. That demonstrates what I call in the poem “no heart for countless brothers” among those who claim to wish for LEF, revolutionary liberty, equality, and fraternity. The words lose their meaning in the mouths and minds of persons who interpret these as goals to be achieved without any sense of humanity.

      Thanks for noticing the denunciation of meaningless leftist revolutionary mantras in the poem, and all the more for applying that kind of awareness to current events. This is all I have time for now, but I’ll be back to respond to your kind words on the lyric form and more.

      Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Finally to speak of the lyric form, Brian, it my nonce form to represent inevitability. As Parisians in the poem are unable to help themselves while bad becomes worse, the rhyme scheme is a nightmare for the poet who might want to add or remove a stanza, or change the position of one already in place, or bring the poem to a close. Each stanza is a sandwich abca, as you noticed, but the /b/ and /c/ sounds carry over to subsequent stanzas:

      abca bcdb cdec, and so forth

      With initial rhyme sounds prescribed through three stanzas, and one new prescribed sound appearing in each successive stanza, there is no inserting another stanza as an afterthought, or doing away with one that seems less successful. The whole poem would have to be re-rhymed! I wanted this effect for this particular subject, where the great calamity of revolution proved unstoppable. I would not recommend such a rhyme scheme for any less serious and somber subject. It has to break down at the end. I did re-use the /a/ rhyme sound in the last two stanzas, to let that sound echo equally with the others. But for poem closure, it was necessary to introduce an unrhymed line whose final sound would not be heard again. That’s the next-to-last line, where the two “Bastille survivors” are themselves in the grip of insanity, not because of events they witnessed, or because of ill treatment in prison. They were “crazed ere firs detained,” incurably insane from the start.

      That’s a way of commenting about the revolution called French, in speaking only of its beginning. I’m glad you found the content of the poem easy to read and instructive, because it’s good to look thoughtfully at such events, and try to avoid becoming entangled if we can.

      Reply
  10. Shamik Banerjee

    Your knowledge of historical events is truly commendable, Margaret. When the deftness of poetry mixes with such knowledge, it begets wonderful and memorable art. Your poem here is a testimony to that. The stanzas spoke to me just like the pages of some history book, unfurling before me the streets, the chaos, the screams, and every other detail. Not only facts, but I also learned a lot of new words. Thank you for bestowing your gift on us.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Shamik, for letting me know the poem not only told the story but made it lively. That’s important because this story is widely misrepresented as a heroic effort by the people against tyranny. It is clear at this late date that the people, terrified by crime and violence in their streets, wanted nothing more than weapons to defend themselves. As my sources tell, some even entered the Bastille calling out, “Long live the King!” They thought they would find guns and swords stored up for the emergency situation they were in. The king should have ordered soldiers to stop the rioters, but when he didn’t, criminals were able to do their worst. And as I say in the poem, the people were shocked at the evil result.

      Thank you as well for your gifts of poetry, and of encouraging me and others by reading and making the effort to comment. I sincerely appreciate it!

      Reply

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