The Reading Warehouse

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." They pointed 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."

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) studied classics at Jesus College, Cambridge. As a radical young poet he collaborated with Wordsworth in Lyrical Ballads. He was by turns poet, dramatist, political journalist, essayist, and public lecturer. Chronic ill health and addiction to opium led to his death in 1834.

Michael Sheen, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, has been seen widely on stage and screen. His major theatrical roles include Henry V, Peer Gynt, Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger as well as appearances in Pinter's Moonlight and The Homecoming. Among his film work is Wilde, Mary Reilly, and Othello. Since leaving RADA, he has recorded numerous audiobooks, including Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and The Idiot, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Great Poems of the Romantic Age, and Oedipus the King. He has also directed and read the part of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet for Naxos AudioBooks.

Sarah Woodward joined the Royal Shakespeare Company after leaving RADA and has since appeared in many Shakespearean roles including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Other theater credits include The Sea, Kean, and Wild Oats.