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Hero and Leander
Christopher Marlowe
Book Overview:
“Who ever lov’d, that lov’d not at first sight?”
The wonder-decade of the English drama was suddenly interrupted in 1592, when serious plague broke out in London, forcing the closure of the theatres. Leading playwrights took to penning languorously erotic poetry to make ends meet: so we have Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece - and Marlowe’s blazing masterpiece, Hero and Leander.
Marlowe’s poem became more notorious than either of Shakespeare’s, due not only to its homophile provocations but also to the scandal attaching to every aspect of Marlowe’s brief life, violently ended in a mysterious brawl, leaving the poem in an unfinished state.
“Who ever lov’d, that lov’d not at first sight?”
The wonder-decade of the English drama was suddenly interrupted in 1592, when serious plague broke out in London, forcing the closure of the theatres. Leading playwrights took to penning languorously erotic poetry to make ends meet: so we have Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece - and Marlowe’s blazing masterpiece, Hero and Leander.
Marlowe’s poem became more notorious than either of Shakespeare’s, due not only to its homophile provocations but also to the scandal attaching to every aspect of Marlowe’s brief life, violently ended in a mysterious brawl, leaving the poem in an unfinished state.
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And, with the other, wine from grapes out wrung.
Of crystal shining fair the pavement was.
The town of Sestos called it Venus' glass.
There might you see the gods in sundry shapes
Committing heady riots, incest, rapes.
For know, that underneath this radiant floor
Was Danae's statue in a brazen tower,
Jove slyly stealing from his sister's bed,
To dally with Idalian Ganymede,
And for his love Europa bellowing loud,
And tumbling with the Rainbow in a cloud;
Blood quaffing Mars heaving the iron net
Which limping Vulcan and his Cyclops set;
Love kindling fire to burn such towns as Troy;
Sylvanus weeping for the lovely boy
That now is turned into a cypress tree,
Under whose shade the wood gods love to be.
And in the midst a silver altar stood.
There Hero, sacrificing turtle's blood,
Vailed to the ground, vailing her eyelids close,
And modestly they opened as she rose.
T. . . Read More
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Community Reviews
Aunque "Hero y Leandro" me parezca inferior a "Venus y Adonis" como poema narrativo, particularmente en aspectos formales de su construcción poética, si lo evalúo como narrativa me parece superior.
Bumped up a star after re-reading for essay prep :)
kind of a shame marlowe didn’t get to finish this.. getting stabbed in the head kinda does that to a poet.
*note: i only read marlowe’s section, so my review doesn’t reflect a reading of anyone’s attempt to finish the poem
A myth retold with the extravagant and fancy way Marlowe has with words. I believe it was intentionally left unfinished.
"El azul de su túnica estaba manchado
De la sangre de amantes desgraciados.
Lucía en su cabeza una corona de mirto
donde colgaba su velo hasta la tierra.
Su velo era de flores y de hojas de artificio
cuya labor confunde a hombres y bestias.
El dulce aroma a su paso preciaban
cuando era el olor que su alien
This was an okay read. It was beautifully written and the story was quite okay. It was a nice romance and all but the fact that we don't know if this is the conclusive ending to their tale or whether there is supposed to be more makes me feel like I am reading something unfinished, and like I can't
Boy meets girl, wooing occurs, persuasive arguments are made for breaking vows of chastity. This doesn't succeed at first, but the maiden Hero is secretly infatuated with Leander, he is allowed to try again. He swims to get to her room, Neptun tries to make a pass at our hero, but he evades his adva