For Books are as Meats and Viands Are ("Areopagitica") (Simile)
In "Areopagitica," Milton writes, "For books are as meats and viands are; some of good, some of evil substance…Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomach differ little or nothing from unwholesome; and best books to a naughty mind are not unappliable to occasions of evil. Bad meats will scarce breed good nourishment in the healthiest concoction; but herein the difference is of bad books, that they to a discreet and judicious reader serve in many respects to discover, to confute, to forewarn, and to illustrate.”
The simile compares books to food. Milton writes that both food and books can be of good or evil “substance”—they can be good or evil in themselves. However, wholesome food will still make someone with a weak stomach sick, just as good books can still lead a naughty mind to evil. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to focus too much on whether the food or the book is good or bad, because its impact is ultimately determined more by the moral character of whoever consumes it. However, Milton does distinguish books and food in that bad food can never do anyone good, but bad books can be beneficial for wise readers.
Licensors as Jailors ("Areopagitica") (Metaphor)
In arguing that censorship laws would be insulting to authors, Milton writes, "So much the more, whenas debtors and delinquents may walk abroad without a keeper, but unoffensive books must not stir forth without a visible jailer in their title.”
In this metaphor, Milton compares the licensor to a jailer. He’s referring to the fact that an approved book needed to include a reference to that fact on the title page. Milton personifies that reference as the physical presence of the licensor, standing like a jailer next to the book and keeping it in check.
Closing the Park Gate to Keep Out the Crows ("Areopagitica") (Simile)
Describing the ineffectuality of censorship laws, Milton writes, "And he who were pleasantly disposed could not well avoid to liken it to the exploit of that gallant man who thought to pound up the crows by shutting his park gate.”
In this simile, Milton compares the attempt to keep dangerous content away from the public by crafting censorship laws to a man who tries to prevent crows from entering his land by shutting the gate. The gate doesn’t even begin to solve the problem, because the crows can either fly around it, or come from any other direction. Similarly, dangerous ideas will be able to “go around” the censorship laws, because learned men can always get books in different languages. They can also simply enter from another direction. Milton mentions preachers, music, and corrupt company as alternate sources for dangerous ideology or indulgent entertainment.
Our Richest Merchandise, Truth ("Areopagitica") (Metaphor)
Speaking to the value of free speech, Milton writes, "There is yet behind of what I purposed to lay open, the incredible loss and detriment that this plot of licensing puts us to; more than if some enemy at sea should stop up all our havens and ports and creeks, it hinders and retards the importation of our richest merchandise, truth.”
In this metaphor, Milton casts truth as a product, and argues that censorship laws are akin to an enemy blockade. He’s referencing the complex trade networks which connected England to the continent. These networks were both an important source of goods, and the basis of much of London’s wealth. A blockade would be disastrous. Milton knows that wealthy merchants constitute one of the most powerful wings of his audience, and here he’s speaking their language.
The Wars of Truth ("Areopagitica") (Metaphor)
Defending the value of open conversation, Milton writes, "When a man hath been labouring the hardest labour in the deep mines of knowledge, hath furnished out his findings in all their equipage: drawn forth his reasons as it were a battle ranged: scattered and defeated all objections in his way; calls out his adversary into the plain, offers him the advantage of wind and sun, if he please, only that he may try the matter by dint of argument: for his opponents then to skulk, to lay ambushments, to keep a narrow bridge of licensing where the challenger should pass, though it be valour enough in soldiership, is but weakness and cowardice in the wars of Truth.”
In this metaphor, Milton compares the work of finding truth to entering a battle. The writer is like a soldier, defending his turf with reason rather than weapons. However, the “wars of Truth” also have different rules. In real warfare, it’s good strategy to hide and prevent the enemy from having equal odds. In argument, it is a sign of “weakness and cowardice” to unfairly prevent the enemy from speaking through censorship laws.
The Labyrinth of Counsels ("Of True Religion") (Metaphor)
Describing his goals in "Of True Religion," Milton writes, "I will not now enter into the Labyrinth of Counsels and Fathers, an entangled wood which the Papist loves to fight in, not with hope of Victory, but to obscure the shame of an open overthrow”
In this metaphor, Milton compares the Catholic intellectual tradition to a tangled wood. Catholicism has a clear hierarchy partially based on the religious education of authorities like priests and monks. Although the level of expertise varied enormously between different figures, many Catholic religious workers were educated not only in the Bible, but in a long tradition of interpretation, disputation, and argument. Milton rejects that tradition as confusing and dark like a wood, suggesting that it functions to confuse people and prevent arguments from being stated clearly and openly.
Slaves Within Doors ("The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates") (Metaphor)
In "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates," Milton explains why men go along with tyranny, "If men within themselves would be governed by reason, and not generally give up their understanding to a double tyranny, of custom from without, and blind affections within; they would discern better what it is to favour and uphold the tyrant of a nation. But being slaves within doors, no wonder that they strive so much to have the public state conformably governed to the inward vicious rule, by which they govern themselves."
Milton describes someone who is blindly obedient as a “slave within doors,” comparing the self to a house. One’s personal patterns of thinking are inside the house, while political beliefs are outside it. By implying only a door lies between private thoughts and public actions, Milton emphasizes that the two are interconnected.
Two Carcasses Chained Together (“The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce”) (Metaphor)
“Nay instead of being one flesh, they will be rather two carcasses chain'd unnaturally together…”
In this quotation from “The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,” Milton references the traditional framing of marriage as a process of becoming “one flesh.” The idea was that a married couple became a single individual, and the boundaries between the two spouses were blurred. Milton writes that in an incompatible marriage, the couple is instead “two carcasses chained together.” The disgusting metaphor stresses not only that incompatible marriage is unpleasant, but also that it is a disgrace to true marriage.
