A prose tract or polemic by John Milton, published November 23, 1644, at the height of the English Civil War... Milton, though a supporter of the Parliament, argued forcefully against the Licensing Order of 1643, noting that such censorship had never been a part of classical Greek and Roman society. The tract is full of biblical and classical references which Milton uses to strengthen his argument. The issue was personal for Milton as he had suffered censorship himself in his efforts to publish several tracts defending divorce ... Areopagitica is among history's most influential and impassioned philosophical defences of the principle of a right to free speech.
John Milton
John Milton (1608–1674) est l’un des plus grands poètes anglais, célèbre pour son engagement politique et son génie littéraire. Puritain convaincu, il fut un ardent défenseur de la liberté d’expression et un acteur majeur de la révolution anglaise aux côtés de Cromwell. Devenu aveugle en 1652, il dicta *Le Paradis perdu*, son chef-d’œuvre, entre 1658 et 1663, offrant au monde une épopée poétique d’une profondeur inégalée. Son œuvre, à la fois religieuse et humaniste, continue d’inspirer la littérature et la pensée occidentale.
