Voltaire aimed to be the French Virgil, outdoing the master by preserving Aristotelian unity of place—a property of classical tragedy rather than epic—by keeping the human action confined between Paris and Ivry.

The poem, in ten chants or cantos, comprises two major parts; the first is strictly from an historical point of view, and its material is only factual.

"[2] Voltaire also stated that various other sections of the poem were purely allegorical: "for example, the voyage of Discord to Rome, Politics and Fanaticism personified, the temple of Love, the Passions and Vices, etc.

Extracted from Curious Manuscripts (1727) expresses his Enlightened opinions on these themes in a prose form that is more approachable to modern taste.

While Henriade was viewed as a great poem, and as one of Voltaire's best, many did not believe it to be his masterpiece, or the best he was capable of; many claimed it lacked originality or novel inspiration, and that it was nothing truly extraordinary.