Thanks for the answer. Time to give up on this one, never heard of him, would never have got the answer. Just done a Google search and one of the first entries described him as 'all but forgotten'. Hardly fair as a crossword answer then, is it?
Hi Stucksgain! I too am finding this very difficult, but think Samuel Taylor Coleridge is an entirely fair topic for a theme. I don't know what is taught in English Literature in schools nowadays, & am very surprised and shocked to hear that he is considered to be almost forgotten. Anyone of my generation (over 60) would have learnt large sections of The Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan by heart and probably still remember snippets.
Yes Kayakamina, you're sort of right! I'd been viewing it as a double (confusing) theme. But I hadn't read Stucksgain's post properly & will agree that SCT is the dominant half, and I would have to look up his works. But the Guardian crossword is meant to be a challenge ....