Hero and Leander

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1598

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Related Poems

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe (1599)

This pastoral lyric was not published until six years after Marlowe’s death. It begins with the famous line, “Come live with me and be my love” (Line 1), and the poem soon became a popular song. The shepherd woos his love with an idyllic picture of how they will enjoy all the pleasures that an ideal country setting can provide. They will sit on the rocks and listen to bird song; he will make her beds of roses and delightful wool clothing, including slippers with gold buckles, and a belt made of coral and amber. The other shepherds will dance and sing for her on May mornings. Although the beloved girl does not appear in the poem, unlike Hero and Leander there seem to be no dark clouds on the horizon for this rustic couple.

“Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships” by Christopher Marlowe (published 1604)

“Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships / and burnt the topless towers of Ilium?” (Lines 1-2) may be the most famous lines Marlowe ever wrote. The “face” (Line 1) is that of Helen of Troy, and the “thousand ships” (Line 1) were launched by the Greeks, which resulted in the Trojan War. A Trojan prince, Paris, had seduced Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, and taken her back to Troy. Although this verse can be read as an independent poem, it is actually a speech from Marlowe’s drama Doctor Faustus, spoken by Faustus (Act V, Scene 1, Lines 98-117) when the devil, Mephistophilis (more commonly spelled Mephistopheles) shows him Helen. The play is about the legendary figure of Faustus (also called Faust), who sought limitless power through knowledge. He did not care how he obtained that knowledge, so he made a pact with the devil, even though he knew that would result in the eternal damnation of his soul.

“Lament for Zenocrate” by Christopher Marlowe (1590)

This is a speech from Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine the Great. The play is based on the life of a 14th-century leader who conquered central Asia and parts of India. Zenocrate, an Egyptian princess, is Tamburlaine’s wife. In this speech (Act II, Scene 4, Lines 1-37) Tamburlaine says it is a dark day, and Apollo, the sun god, no longer sheds his light on earth because Zenocrate is sick. Tamburlaine sings her praises but fears she will die, and he hopes that the days left to him will be few. Zenocrate dies a short while later.

Further Literary Resources

“Hero and Leander” by Leigh Hunt (1817)

Readers who enjoy Marlowe’s poem may want to find a poetic treatment of the entire myth, including the tragic death of the two lovers. Some may turn to George Chapman’s completion of Marlowe’s poem, published in 1598. Twenty-first-century readers may find Chapman heavy going, but there is an alternative. Critic, essayist, and minor Romantic poet Leigh Hunt, friend of John Keats, wrote a narrative poem in which he tells the whole story of Hero and Leander. Written in rhymed verse, it is much shorter than Marlowe's poem, at less than 300 lines. The latter part of the poem, when after an idyllic summer, the fateful night arrives, is especially worth reading.

“Hero to Leander” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1830)

Tennyson was one of the most popular Victorian poets in England, and this lyric poem is his contribution to the Hero and Leander literature. In this poem, Hero pours out her feelings of love for Leander and her ecstatic devotion to him. She pleads with him not to leave at night. In each stanza, however, these declarations of passionate love mingle with imagery of stormy seas, which foreshadows Leander’s fate.

“On a Picture of Leander” by John Keats (1829)

William Tassie, a friend of the English Romantic poet John Keats, gave him an engraving of a scene depicting Hero and Leander. Keats’s resulting sonnet addresses “sweet Maidens,” (Line 1) asking them to contemplate how Hero’s beauty cost Leander his life. The sonnet pictures Leander sinking beneath the waves while thinking of Hero.