The first stanza of Les “Vous” et les “Tu” depicts Voltaire’s initial relationship with Philis. It describes aspects of the good times that they had together like modern teenagers riding around in a car. Voltaire is entranced by his beautiful companion so that even the equivalent of a McDonald’s meal is ambrosia to him. And ambrosia is the food of the gods. Everything feels so enjoyable to him when they are together as she mischievously gives him what she has and all that he desires.
1. Philis, qu’est devenu ce temps / Phyllis, what has become of the days
2. Où, dans un fiacre promenée, / When, out riding in a carriage,
3. Sans laquais, sans ajustements, / Without servants, without trappings,
4. De tes grâces seules ornée, / Adorned only by your charm,
5. Contente d’un mauvais soupé / Content with a poor supper,
6. Que tu changeais en ambroisie, / Which you would change into ambrosia,
7. Tu te livrais, dans ta folie, / You would deliver yourself, in your gaiety,
8. A l’amant heureux et trompé / To the happy deceived lover
9. Qui t’avait consacré sa vie? / Who had devoted his life to you?
Since the French spelling obscures the rhyme, I will make them explicit. Lines 1 and 3 rhyme with the same final nasal vowel. Lines 2 and 4 rhyme with the same final consonant and vowel. Lines 5 and 8 rhyme with the same final consonant and vowel. Lines 2, 4, 5 and 8 rhyme with the same final vowel. Lines 6, 7, and 9 rhyme with the same final vowel. Voltaire build an aural crescendo with the rhyming pattern.
The first line starts with the focus of the entire poem, Philis, and elicits a former time in her life. The second, third, and fifth lines refer to an experience that is not supported by money, but by what lines five, six, and seven talk about which is the youth, beauty, and energy of Phyllis. Lines eight and nine remind her of just how much Voltaire was in love with her. It is disagreeable to a woman’s emotion to have such love confessed to her, except by someone whom she finds acceptable and attractive. (Women call it ‘chemistry’.) But Voltaire knows from experience that he has a place deep in her heart. And the word “deceived” (trompé) is calculated to elicit a twinge of guilt as a light counter point while she feels the emotions of the good times they had together. But most importantly, the first stanza is calculated to vividly remind her of their relationship and the exciting emotional adventures that they had shared.
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