Hero and Leander and Other Poems
by Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
- Reading level
- Fairly demanding
- Price
- Free
About the book
"Hero and Leander and Other Poems" by Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman is a poem first published in 1598. It retells the Greek myth of two young lovers separated by the Hellespont, a narrow sea strait. Hero, a priestess devoted to Venus, meets Leander at a festival. He falls desperately in love and promises to swim across the treacherous waters each night to reach her tower. Their passionate encounters unfold with extravagant emotion and violent intensity, but Marlowe's untimely death left the poem unfinished—later completed by Chapman.
- Leander (Greek mythology)
- Hero (Greek mythology)
Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #20356. Hero and Leander and Other Poems on Wikipedia.
More free books by Christopher Marlowe
About Christopher MarloweThe Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1
The Jew of Malta
The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)
The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Tamburlaine the Great — Part 2
Edward the Second
Hero and Leander
Massacre at Paris
The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus Made into a Farce
The Tragedy of Dido Queene of Carthage
