Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was an English dramatist and poet, precursor of Shakespeare. He was son of a shoemaker at Canterbury. Besides a love poem entitled "Hero and Leander," he was the author of seven plays, "Tamburlaine," in two parts, "Doctor Faustus," "The Jew of Malta," "Edward the Second," "The Massacre of Paris," and "Dido," the first four being romantic plays, the fifth a chronicle play, and the last two offering no particular talent. He dealt solely in tragedy, and was too devoid of humour to attempt comedy. "In Marlowe," says Prof. Saintsbury, "two things never fail him long - a strange, not by any means impotent, reach after the infinite, and the command of magnificent verse". His life was a short one.

Wisdom & Quotes

• Now hast thou but one bare hour to live

And then thou must be damned perpetually!
Stand still you ever-moving spheres of heaven,
That time may cease and midnight never come.
- Dr Faustus

• Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!
- Dr Faustus

• Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air

Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.
- Dr Faustus

• When all the world dissolves,

And every creature shall be purified,
All place shall be hell that is not heaven.
- Dr Faustus

• Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasure prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.
- The Passionate Shepherd to his Love

• Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?

- Hero and Leander

James I