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One of Marlowe's accomplishments was to capture in blank verse the music inherent in the English
language. When Faustus sees Helen of Troy, he exclaims:
Earlier blank verse had been metrically precise and regular which, in long passages, could become
rhythmically boring. Marlowe alternated the regular stresses and created a more varied, sincere, and
beautiful verse. Shakespeare was later to follow Marlowe's example and use the natural rhythm of blank
verse.
Ofttimes, instead of using a rhyme, Marlowe uses other poetic techniques to give unity to a passage. As
in the ending of the first two lines of the above passage, the assonance of "air" and "stars" imparts a
controlled unity to the lines.
In one construction of his poetry, Marlowe did not end each line with a heavy and distinct pause. He
often varied the caesuras within a line, and he also continued a thought from one line to another.
Marlowe used the run-on line so as to give continuity to the poetry. For example, observe Faustus'
opening speech.
The combination of the above qualities influenced the trend of blank verse in Elizabethan drama and
earned for Marlowe's verse the term "Marlowe's Mighty Line."