Areopagitica : a speech of Mr. John Milton for the liberty of unlicenc'd printing to the Parlament of England.
Twenty-three years before the publication of his masterpiece Paradise Lost, Milton was writing political tracts supporting the British Parliament against King Charles I during the English Civil War. One such work was a controversial pamphlet in support of expanding the grounds for divorce which was published without prior government approval as was required by the Licensing Order of 1643. Milton published Areopagitica in opposition to pre-publication censorship and the criminal punishment of authors that were implemented by the Licensing Order. In this work, Milton defends freedom of speech and expression through historical examples like the ancient Greeks and Romans as well as the Catholic Church’s Inquisition. According to Milton, written works shouldn’t be censored before they are published but rather judged by the public after having been read.
John Milton (1608-1674).
Areopagitica: A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing to the Parlament of England. London: [printed in the yeare, 1644.]
Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/262231
A version of this text has been digitized and is available through the Internet Archive.