Hero and Leander

Description

Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlowe was left incomplete because of the poet’s death in 1593, but even so, it is certainly one of the most beautiful poems by the great renaissance master.

The poem is a reiteration of a Greek myth with the same title. The protagonists are two lovers who live in two different towns, on the separate sides of the Hellespont. Hero is a priestess to the goddess of beauty, Venus, and she lives a quiet life of vowed chastity and devotion. She is seen by Leander at a festival in the honor of Venus. Leander falls in love with Hero the second he sees her and the girl returns his feelings, though reluctantly because of her vow to chastity. Leander persuades the girl to follow her heart and the two beautiful, young lovers meet in the tower where the girl lives. Leander approaches the tower swimming and while he is in the water, the god of sea confuses him with Ganymede, another young hero and the most beautiful of all humans alive, and takes him to the abyss, but later the god recognizes the mistake and returns Leander to the surface.

The genre of Hero and Leander is epyllion, little epic – that is, a poem longer than a lyric piece and telling a story, usually a story about love. The love story in the poem is not Marlowe’s invention – he knew it from both Ovid and Mussaeus Grammaticus, the latter being considered to be the main source. However, it is Marlowe who adds emotion and passion to it and it is his unique, often extravagant take on the classic love story and his poetic genius what made Hero and Leander entertaining to readers along the centuries and what makes it so enjoyable for readers today as well.
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