Voltaire's poem Le Mondain appeared in 1736 and provocatively praised luxury, comfort and modern civilisation. It challenged austere moralists by treating pleasure and commerce as signs of progress. The poem belongs to the Enlightenment debate over taste, wealth and human happiness.

Le Mondain expanded the subjects available to philosophical poetry. Instead of retreating into classical virtue alone, Voltaire used verse to argue about modernity, consumption and the moral meaning of everyday comfort.