Christopher Marlowe

noun

English poet and playwright who introduced blank verse as a form of dramatic expression; was stabbed to death in a tavern brawl (1564-1593)

• Syn: ↑Marlowe

• Instance Hypernyms: ↑dramatist, ↑playwright, ↑poet

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Christopher Marlowe [Christopher Marlowe]

(1564–93) an English writer of plays and poetry. He is considered the greatest English ↑playwright of the period before William Shakespeare, and was an important influence on Shakespeare’s style. His best-known works are Tamburlaine (c. 1587), ↑Doctor Faustus, The Jew of Malta (c. 1590) and Edward II (c. 1592). He may also have written parts of the Shakespeare plays ↑Titus Andronicus and ↑Henry VI. Marlowe led a wild and violent life, was put in prison briefly in 1589 on suspicion of murder, and was himself murdered in a fight at the age of 29.