Its points echo Voltaire's prose works Lettres philosophiques and Remarques sur Pascal.

Adam's nails are described as long and dirty since no-one has yet invented a tool to trim or clean them.

[2] Instead, the poem's closing line says, "Le paradis terrestre est où je suis" ("The earthly paradise is where I am.")

[1] The French dramatist Alexis Piron wrote a poem in response, L'Antimondain, in 1738.

[1] The poem's publication caused a scandal which led to Voltaire fleeing in 1738 from the Chateau de Cirey in France to Brussels, where he spent three months before returning.