
GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY
To the Memory of
PREFACE
TAORMINA
A NEW DEFENCE OF POETRY
DEMOCRACY
THE RIDE
A wandering observer finds himself on the jagged cliffs of Taormina, where storm‑lit seas and mist‑shrouded peaks turn the Sicilian coast into a living poem. He describes the flickering lights of fishermen’s boats, the restless clouds over Etna, and the way rain seems to carry a personality of its own, painting the landscape with shifting color and light. Through these vivid sketches he invites listeners to feel the same restless curiosity that drives a traveler to stare at the horizon until night deepens.
The piece argues that poetry, politics, and faith are merely different blossoms of a single human spirit, growing from the same deep soil within every heart. By pairing personal memory of mist‑clad cliffs with larger questions of purpose, it encourages listeners to trace their own inner terrain as the narrative unfolds.
Language
en
Duration
~6 hours (370K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Afra Ullah, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Release date
2004-05-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1855–1930
A poet, critic, and teacher from New England, he helped shape how American literature was read in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is especially remembered for writing on Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, while also building a long career as a poet in his own right.
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