The Great Poets: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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The Great Poets: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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About this listen
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in collaboration with his friend, William Wordsworth, revolutionized English poetry. In 1798 they produced their Lyrical Ballads, poems of imagination and reflection using "the language of men" - pointing the way forward for a generation of Romantic poets.
Coleridge’s addiction to opium affected his poetic output, and yet the handful of poems he did produce were innovative. These ranged from the quietly conversational to the wildly imagined, and include two of the greatest in English literature: "Kubla Khan" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".
Hollywood actor Michael Sheen reads "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", in this collection, which is part of the Naxos AudioBooks The Great Poets series. This popular anthology also contains Coleridge's other major narrative poem "Christabel", as well as "Kubla Khan", "Love", "Frost at Midnight", and "The Lime-Tree Bower My Prison".
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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Editor reviews
This unique recording features an assortment of actors reciting Coleridge's most famous works, all gems of English poetry. Acclaimed actor Michael Sheen does a superb and truly harrowing recitation of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", while Sarah Woodward is a sensuous Christabel. “Frost at Midnight” is infused with a sense of dark glamor, while “Love” is haunting and profound. Overall, the performers here do an excellent job showcasing the beauty of Coleridge's words and the depths of his emotions. An excellent way to experience the work of this deeply imaginative and inventive poet.
What listeners say about The Great Poets: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- K
- 30-03-18
Not exactly Sublime.
To be honest, my reading experience was definitely affected by the fact that many of the narrators seemed to read the poetry in their grammar school voices. You could virtually hear the lungs being expanded to bursting point in order to make the requisite explosive 'Oh!'.
Coleridge is a poet very much of his time and now his 'simple expression' and the extasy provided by nature seems either contrived or tame. It is hard to imagine him as a controversial figure or writer. Personally, I find a great deal of solace in nature and I feel spiritually energinsed by isolation, so I do enjoy many of Coleridge's flights of the sublime.
However, I am not a devotee of the tone of many of his poems. His inverted snobbery and occasional pomposity smacks too much of the bitterness of having to rely on patronage rather than being born to completely independent means. He reminds me of a second home owner who claims to be 'local' and desperately wants to be accepted by the yokels despite depending on Waitrose home delivery and asking what 'craft' ale the local pub serves.
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