Christopher Marlowe
1564 - 1593

English dramatist and poet. He wrote six plays including his best-known work, The Tragical History of Dr Faustus (1589). He translated some of Ovid's Amores and Book One of Lucan's Pharsilia (1593). His original poetry includes Hero and Leander (1593), a mythological narrative, and The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. The latter, a pastoral lyric, inspired many fine replies such as Sir Walter Ralegh's The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd and John Donne's The Bait. He was the first great Elizabethan dramatist and his work set the stage for Shakespeare whom he influenced considerably.