Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a founder of Romanticism and close friend of William Wordsworth. He suffered from anxiety, depression, and had an intense opium addiction. His longest poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, tells the story of a mariner recounting a tale to a wedding guest about his experiences at sea, and was inspired by a tour Coleridge took with Wordsworth in the Quantock Hills. The document prompts students to develop their own film adaptations of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by considering aspects like casting, director, genre, time period, visual style, target audience, and marketing.

1. SAMUEL TAYLOR
COLERIDGE

2. About the man
◦ Great friends with Wordsworth
◦ One of the founders of Romanticism
◦ Suffered from anxiety and depression
◦ Had an intense opium addiction

3. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
◦ Longest poem Coleridge had written
◦ Poem was told from the perspective of a
mariner recounting the tale to a man on
his way to a wedding
◦ Wordsworth claims that the poem was
inspired by their tour of The Quantock Hills

4. Adaptions

5. Now it’s your turn!
◦Get into groups and come up
with your own movie adaption
for this poem! Pitch it to the class
   

6. Questions to consider
◦ Casting?
◦ Who would you chose as the director?
◦ What type of genre of film is it? Exploitation? Action? Romance? Comedy?
◦ Time period? Modern? Ancient? Future?
◦ Black and white or color? Silent?
◦ Animated? Live action? Claymation?
◦ Aiming for Oscar bait?
◦ Consider what type of audience you will be aiming for. (adults, children?)
◦ Will this be for more low or high brow audiences?
◦ How will you go about marketing this film?