ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Hero and Leander is a poem by Christopher Marlowe that retells the Greek myth of Hero and Leander. After Marlowe’s untimely death it was completed by George Chapman. The minor poet Henry Petowe published an alternative completion to the poem.

Detailed explanation-2: -Hero and Leander is conventionally regarded as a fragmented poem, begun by Marlowe and completed by Chapman.

Detailed explanation-3: -Chapman’s conclusion to Christopher Marlowe’s unfinished poem Hero and Leander (1598) emphasized the necessity for control and wisdom.

Detailed explanation-4: -Hero, virgin priestess of Aphrodite at Sestos, was seen at a festival by Leander of Abydos; they fell in love, and he swam the Hellespont at night to visit her, guided by a light from her tower. One stormy night the light was extinguished, and Leander was drowned; Hero, seeing his body, drowned herself likewise.

Detailed explanation-5: -”Hero and Leander” is an epyllion, a short epic poem, in which Hero and Leander are lovers separated by the Hellespont, a narrow strip of water between Sestos and Abydos, the towns in which Hero and Leander live. The lovers first meet at the yearly festival of Adonis, one of Venus’ lovers, and fall in love.