Editing Areopagitica (section)

{{Short description|1644 prose polemic by John Milton}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox book
| name = Areopagitica
| image = Areopagitica bridwell.jpg
| author = [[John Milton]]
| language = [[Early Modern English]]
| country = [[Kingdom of England]]
| genre = [[Speech]], prose [[polemic]]
| translator = 
| caption = Title page circa 1644
| cover_artist = 
| series = 
| release_date = 1644
| pages = 30 pages
| title_orig = Areopagitica; A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, To the Parlament of England.
|dewey=323.445|congress=	Z657 .M66|wikisource=Areopagitica (1644)
}}
[[File:DesWilson1987.jpg|right|thumb|[[Des Wilson]] in 1987 as president of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], holding as symbol of his office a copy of ''Areopagitica'']] 
'''''Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England''''' is a 1644 prose [[polemic]] by the English poet, scholar, and polemical author [[John Milton]] opposing [[Licensing Order of 1643|licensing]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Milton |first=John |year=1644 |title= Areopagitica, A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing to the Parliament of England |place=London |edition= 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nejQAAAAMAAJ&q=areopagitica&pg=PP13 |access-date=1 February 2016}} via Google Books</ref> ''Areopagitica'' is among history's most influential and impassioned philosophical defences of the principle of a right to [[freedom of speech|freedom of speech and expression]]. Many of its expressed principles have formed the basis for modern justifications of that right.