John Milton a wolność słowa

Abstract

John Milton (1608-1674), the famous author of Paradise Lost, in 1644 without the censorship approval published his treaty entitled Areopagitica, in which as one of the first new age thinkers, he spoke in defence of the freedom of speech. The government in England at that time went into the hands of conservationists who tried to eliminate all revolutionary decisions of the Long Parliament (November 3, 1640), such as the tightening of the censorship control. John Milton’s protest was directed against those intentions. The writer devoted much attention to the history of censorship in Europe and England. He wrote about the absurd and paradox of the abuse of censorship in Catholic countries, for example making authors and printers collect even five Imprimatur certificates in order to publish a book although such practises, to his surprise, did also happen in England. Variety and disorder of arguments for abolishing censorship create an impression of chaos in Areopagitica, which the contemporary reader of philosophical treaties was undoubtedly not used to. The Milton way of presenting arguments for abolishing censorship was distinguished against the background of literary output at that time by its lively stylistics, richness in metaphor and rhetoric figures, which are the reason why the text is still willingly read and quoted.