Garcilaso de la Vega

Garcilaso de la Vega was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. He was born in Madrid on November 25, 1562, to a family of modest origins. He showed an early talent for literature and studied under the poet Vicente Espinel. He also attended the universities of Alcalá de Henares and Salamanca, but did not obtain a degree. Lope de Vega led a turbulent and adventurous life. He joined the Spanish Navy and fought against the English in the Azores. He had numerous love affairs and married twice. He fathered at least 15 children, some of them out of wedlock. He was involved in literary feuds with other writers, such as Miguel de Cervantes and Luis de Góngora. He also faced legal troubles and was exiled from Madrid for several years. He entered the priesthood in 1614, but continued writing secular works. He died of scarlet fever on August 27, 1635, in Madrid. Lope de Vega is considered one of the greatest and most prolific playwrights in world literature. He wrote more than 400 plays, of which about 80 are extant. He also wrote hundreds of shorter dramatic pieces, such as entremeses (interludes) and autos sacramentales (religious allegories). He created a new form of drama that broke the classical rules of unity of time, place, and action. He mixed comedy and tragedy, history and fiction, realism and fantasy. He appealed to the popular taste of his audience with lively plots, witty dialogue, and varied characters. Some of his best-known plays are Fuenteovejuna (The Sheep Well), El perro del hortelano (The Dog in the Manger), El castigo sin venganza (Punishment Without Revenge), and El caballero de Olmedo (The Knight from Olmedo). Lope de Vega was also a remarkable poet who wrote in various genres and forms. He composed more than 3,000 sonnets, as well as epics, romances, elegies, eclogues, ballads, odes, epistles, and silvas. He was influenced by Italian Renaissance poetry and by Spanish traditional poetry. He expressed his personal feelings, his religious faith, his patriotic sentiments, and his artistic ideals with grace and originality. Some of his poetic works are La Dragontea (The Dragon's Teeth), La Arcadia (The Arcadia), La Dorotea (The Dorotea), Rimas sacras (Sacred Rhymes), Rimas humanas y divinas del licenciado Tomé de Burguillos (Human and Divine Rhymes by Licentiate Tomé de Burguillos), and La Filomena (The Philomena).