Areopagitica

Areopagitica (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

Milton, later to hold important office in Oliver Cromwell’s government, composed the Areopagitica in the form of a classical oration in response to the English Parliament’s resumption of a practice formerly exercised by royal decree: the licensing of printed matter. He had already defied authority in several of his own pamphlets on divorce, education, and church administration.

Milton based his defense not on “democratic” principles but, like the licensing law against which he directed it, on moral and religious grounds. Agreeing that books are strong influences...

[The entire page is 549 words long]

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