SOURCE: John R. Iverson. “Voltaire, Fontenoy, and the Crisis of Celebratory Verse.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 28 (1999): 207-26.

In the essay which follows, Iverson discusses the response of other poets to Voltaire's celebratory poem La Bataille de Fontenoy, suggesting that the many parodies intended merely to mock Voltaire actually worked to destabilize the genre of celebratory occasional verse overall. Iverson maintains that Voltaire found himself unable to strike back without lowering himself to the level of his detractors, but that Voltaire perceived the threat to both poetry and national honor.

Le plus aimé des rois est aussi le plus grand.

—Voltaire, La Bataille de Fontenoy, poème

Le plus aimé des rois est le plus mal chanté.

—La Capilotade, poème ou tout ce qu'on voudra

Voltaire's Bataille de Fontenoy is a perplexing document for the modern reader. In the midst of the philosophe's vast output, it seems to...