John Milton

Cromwell

English republican military leader

• CommonwealthAssociation of sovereign states
• ReformationReligious movement splitting Christianity
• ProtestantismReformation-era Christian movement
• regicideMurdering a monarch

liberty · conscience · dissent · nonconformist · Independent · ecclesiastical · theocracy · covenant

Satan

Judeo-Christian arch-enemy of God

• AdamFirst created man
• EveGenesis matriarch
• EdenScriptural original paradise
• fallDescend under gravity

serpent · temptation · redemption · Lucifer · archangel · forbidden fruit · original sin · heaven

dictation

Oral text for writing

• darknessTotal absence of light
• inner lightSpiritual guidance within oneself
• SamsonBiblical figure with hair-bound might
• amanuensisDictation-taking assistant

daughters · total blindness · sacrifice · vision · prophetic · Homer · Tiresias · illumination

verse

Metered poetic passage

• imageryVivid descriptive language
• metaphorImplied identity comparison
• allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
• meterDevice that measures usage

iambic pentameter · enjambment · diction · cadence · pastoral · elegy · ode · masque

heroic

Exceptionally brave and noble

• grand styleElevated, ambitious mode
• invocationCalling upon higher authority
• MuseArts-inspiring deity
• HomericOf grand, ancient verse

classical · elevated · sublime · narrative · blank verse · catalogue · simile · warfare

censorship

Official content restriction

• press freedomRight to publish uncensored
• tyrannicideMurder of oppressive sovereign
• republicState with elected leaders
• pamphletUnbound topical booklet

polemic · rhetoric · argument · persuasion · humanism · reformation · antimonarchical

Petrarchan

Sonnet style from Tuscany

• octaveEight-note interval
• sestetSix-line verse unit
• voltaRepeated section's alternate ending
• fourteen linesSonnet's defining measure

rhyme scheme · personal · occasional · political · Captain · Fairfax · meditation