Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince' during a period of political exile in Florence. He dedicated the work to Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of Florence, in an attempt to demonstrate his political acumen and secure a position within the Medici administration. The treatise serves as a pragmatic guide for rulers on how to maintain power, reflecting the complex political landscape of Renaissance Italy.

Milton was a staunch republican who advocated for the sovereignty of the people. In his political tracts, such as 'The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates', he argued that political authority is derived from the consent of the governed and that public officials should be chosen through popular election rather than hereditary right.

Edmund Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene' is primarily classified as an allegory. While it utilizes epic conventions and structure, its fundamental purpose is to represent moral and political virtues through symbolic characters and narratives. The poem serves as a complex moral guide, where each knight represents a specific virtue, making allegory its most defining generic feature.