A leading tragic dramatist in his time and an occasional collaborator with John Dryden, Lee was an early leader in the dramatic use of blank verse. He is known as well for the violent content of some of his work. His plays include The Tragedy of Nero, Emperour of Rome (1674), Sophonisba, or Hannibal's Overthrow (1675), Gloriana, or the Court of Augustus Caesar (1676), The Rival Queens, or the Death of Alexander the Great (1677), Mithridates King of Pontus (1678), Oedipus (with John Dryden, 1678), Caesar Borgia; Son of Pope Alexander the Sixth (1679), Theodosius: or, The Force of Love (1680), Lucius Junius Brutus; Father of his Country (1680), The Duke of Guise (with John Dryden, 1682), The Princess of Cleve (1683), Constantine the Great (1683), and The Massacre of Paris (1689).