Voltaire

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/voltaire

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Voltaire born?November 21, 1694
2. Where was Voltaire born?Paris, France
3. What is the major work?Candide
4. What is the career?Writer, philosopher, historian, playwright, poet
5. Who was Voltaire?Voltaire was a smart writer from France who lived in the 1700s. He loved to speak his mind and write stories, poems, and plays that made people think about freedom and fairness.
6. Why did Voltaire get into trouble with the king and the church?Voltaire wrote jokes and criticisms about the aristocracy and the church, which made the rulers unhappy. Because of this, he was put in prison in the Bastille in 1717.

Ancien Régime: The political and social system in France before the French Revolution of 1789.
Enlightenment: An 18th-century intellectual and cultural movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of tradition.
Satire: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices.
Philosophe: A French term for Enlightenment thinkers who advocated reason and critical inquiry.