During the English Revolution of the seventeenth century, writers like William
Walwyn produced documents contesting the restriction of their liberties. This thesis is a
critical edition of Walwyn’s Demurre to the Bill for Preventing the Growth and
Spreading of Heresie, unedited since its original publication in 1646. In this text Walwyn
advocates for man’s right to question religious orthodoxy in his search for Truth and
urges Parliament not to pass a proposed Bill for the harsh punishment of religious
sectarians.
Prior to a transcription of the text is an introduction to Walwyn and an attempt to
situate the reader in the context of his time. Following that is a style and rhetorical
analysis, which concludes that despite his rejection of rhetorical practices, Walwyn’s own
use of them is effective. Perhaps this skill is one of the reasons that Parliament passed a
milder, non-punitive version of the Bill Walwyn argued against. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_40936 |
| Contributors | LeClair, Andrew (author), Leeds, John (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 85 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0032 seconds