Other Non-Fiction Milton, John: Areopagitica. V1. 29th Dec 2012

[evolutionary]

[ Wikipedia: about Milton ]

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost.


[ Wikipedia: Areopagitica ]

A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England is a 1644 prose polemical tract by English author John Milton against censorship. Areopagitica is among history's most influential and impassioned philosophical defences of the principle of a right to freedom of speech and expression, which was written in opposition to licensing and censorship. It is regarded as one of the most eloquent defences of press freedom ever written because many of its expressed principles form the basis for modern justifications of that right.


[ This Edition ]

This epub contains the original 1644 text of Areopagitica, which should still be readable today. However, the inconsistent spellings, old-style punctuation and capitalisation, and incessant "ye" etc. of the original may serve to obscure the central argument from some readers--for example, those who's first language is not English. Therefore, I have also included a modernised edition of the text. In addition to these two versions, I have included an introduction, analysis of the text and brief 'life' of Milton from a 1918 edition of the work.

Finally, one notable fact about Milton's polemic was that he published it without a licence--in defiance of the very law he was arguing against--and bravely put his own name on the front cover, but not the name of his printer or anybody else involved in the production of the text. In tribute to this, I have used the original cover for this epub version, with the name of John Milton front and centre.

This work is assumed to be in the Life+70 public domain OR the copyright holder has given specific permission for distribution. Copyright laws differ throughout the world, and it may still be under copyright in some countries. Before downloading, please check your country's copyright laws. If the book is under copyright in your country, do not download or redistribute this work.

To report a copyright violation you can contact us here.