Christopher Marlowe

Marlowe, Christopher (1564–93), English poet and dramatist, a major influence on William Shakespeare. He developed the use of dramatic blank verse. His best-known plays are Tamburlaine the Great (c. 1587); Dr. Faustus (c. 1588), in which he developed a new concept of tragedy, that of a heroic character doomed to failure because of his ambition and power; and Edward II (c. 1593). He also wrote the unfinished long poem Hero and Leander (1598) and the lyric “The Pastoral Shepherd to His Love.”