Reformation: It's Gone Really Dark and Milton's Lost His Sandwich

[Leanne]

King Charles is bad.  No, really bad, I say
and Ollie is a clever chap who read
a bit of Spenser's Faerie Queene one day
and thought it sounded good.  Those Catlicks dead
would make a lot of room; but first, the king
must lose his head.  It's empty anyway.
Now Parliament's in charge and here's the thing:
the Lord Protector's gone a bit astray
but that's ok, he's given me a seat
in Council and the cushion's very nice --
I think some Papist bled on it, how neat!
Thank God for Cromwell ridding us of vice.
We Roundheads are so virtuous and kind --
and if we're not, may Heaven strike me blind.

[Achebe]

And then he'd consider how his life was spent...
Fantastic ending!!! Loved it

But did the good Ollie actually read the Faerie Queene? Interesting bit of trivia if true

[Leanne]

Of course he did. He kept it on a shelf in his toilet, right next to Calvin's Institutio and a doily made out of a piece of Beza's beard.

[dukealien]

IP for Milt, yes, but end-rhymes?  

But (more or less seriously), interesting take on *that* Civil War.

[Leanne]

eh, what? Milton was an end-rhymer, if not necessarily in the Elizabethan style (although him and his buddies certainly loved old Liz I the Proddy Princess Paddy Murderer).

[Achebe]

Good point though: three of his sonnets that I remember were Petrarchan abba while this is Shakespearean....minor quibble but

[dukealien]

Oh, Milt *before* Paradise L/R.  Makes sense.