Félix Lope de Vega
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Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
literature is second only to that of
Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...
, while the sheer volume of his literary output is unequalled, making him one of the most prolific authors in the history of literature. He was nicknamed "The Phoenix of Wits" and "Monster of Nature" (in es , Fénix de los Ingenios , links=no, ) by Cervantes because of his prolific nature. Lope de Vega renewed the Spanish theatre at a time when it was starting to become a mass cultural phenomenon. He defined its key characteristics, and along with
Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (, ; ; 17 January 160025 May 1681) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, writer and knight of the Order of Santiago. He is known as one of the most distinguished Baroque ...
and
Tirso de Molina Gabriel Téllez ( 24 March 1583 20 February 1648), better known as Tirso de Molina, was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and Roman Catholic monk. He is primarily known for writing '' The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest'', the play from ...
, took Spanish Baroque theatre to its greatest heights. Because of the insight, depth and ease of his plays, he is regarded as one of the greatest dramatists in
Western literature Western literature, also known as European literature, is the literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque and Hungarian, an ...
, his plays still being produced worldwide. He was also considered one of the best lyric poets in the Spanish language and wrote several novels. Although not well known in the English-speaking world, his plays were presented in England as early as the 1660s, when diarist Samuel Pepys recorded having attended some adaptations and translations of them, although he omits to mention the author. Some 3,000 sonnets, three novels, four novellas, nine
epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...
s, and about 500
plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...
are attributed to him. Although he has been criticised for putting quantity ahead of quality, nevertheless at least 80 of his plays are considered masterpieces. He was a friend of the writer
Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora ...
and an arch-enemy of the dramatist
Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (c. 1581 - 4 August 1639) was a New Spain-born Spanish writer of the Golden Age who cultivated different variants of dramaturgy. His works include the comedy '' La verdad sospechosa'' ( es), which is considered a masterpiec ...
. The volume of his lifework made him envied by not only contemporary authors such as Cervantes and
Luis de Góngora Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic priest. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered the most prominent ...
, but also by many others: for instance,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
once wished he had been able to produce such a vast and colourful oeuvre.


Life


Youth

Lope de Vega Carpio was born in
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
, in the Puerta de Guadalajara to a family of natives of the valley of Carriedo. His father, Félix de Vega, was an embroiderer. Little is known of his mother, Francisca Fernández Flores or del Carpio. He later took the distinguished surname of Carpio from one of his in-laws (unless he had taken it from his own mother). After a brief stay in
Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...
, his father moved to Madrid in 1561, perhaps drawn by the possibilities of the new capital city. However, Lope de Vega would later affirm that his father arrived in Madrid through a love affair from which his future mother was to rescue him. Thus the writer became the fruit of this reconciliation and owed his existence to the same jealousies he would later analyze so much in his dramatic works. The first indications of young Lope's genius became apparent in his earliest years. His friend and biographer Pérez de Montalbán stated that at the age of five he was already reading Spanish and Latin. While he was still unable to write, he would share his breakfast with the older boys in exchange for their help scribing his verses. By his tenth birthday, he was translating Latin verse. He wrote his first play when he was 12, allegedly ''El verdadero amante'', as he would later affirm in his dedication of the work to his son Lope, although these statements are most probably exaggerations. His great talent bore him to the school of poet and musician
Vicente Espinel Vicente Gómez Martínez-Espinel (; 28 December 15504 February 1624) was a Spanish writer and musician of the Siglo de Oro. He is credited the creation of the modern poetic form of the ''décima'', composed of ten octameters, named '' espinela' ...
in Madrid, to whom he later always referred with veneration. In his fourteenth year he continued his studies in the '' Colegio Imperial'', a Jesuit school in Madrid, from which he absconded to take part in a military expedition in
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. Following that escapade, he had the good fortune of being taken into the protection of the Bishop of Ávila, who recognized the lad's talent and saw him enrolled in the University of Alcalá. Following graduation, Lope had planned to follow in his patron's footsteps and join the priesthood, but those plans were dashed by falling in love and realizing that celibacy was not for him. Thus he failed to attain a bachelor's degree and made what living he could as a secretary to aristocrats or by writing plays. In 1583 Lope enlisted in the
Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...
and saw action at the
Battle of Ponta Delgada The naval Battle of Vila Franca do Campo, also known as Battle of Ponta Delgada and Naval Battle of Isla Terceira, took place on 26 July 1582, off the coast of the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, during the ...
in the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
, under the command of his future friend
Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz Álvaro (, , ) is a Spanish, Galician and Portuguese male given name and surname (see Spanish naming customs) of Visigothic origin. Some claim it may be related to the Old Norse name Alfarr, formed of the elements ''alf'' "elf" and ''arr'' "warrio ...
, to whose son he would later dedicate a play. Following this, he returned to Madrid and began his career as a playwright in earnest. He also began a love affair with Elena Osorio (the "Filis" of his poems), who was separated from her husband, actor Cristóbal Calderón, and was the daughter of a leading theater director. When, after some five years of this torrid affair, Elena spurned Lope in favor of another suitor, his vitriolic attacks on her and her family landed him in jail for libel and, ultimately, earned him the punishment of eight years' banishment from the court and two years' exile from Castile.


Exile

After libelling members of his family in his writing, Lope de Vega undauntedly went into exile. He took with him 16-year-old Isabel de Alderete y Urbina, known in his poems by the anagram "Belisa," the daughter of Philip II's court painter, Diego de Urbina. The two married under pressure from her family on 10 May 1588. Just a few weeks later, on 29 May, Lope signed up for another tour of duty with the Spanish Navy: this was the summer of 1588, and the Armada was about to sail against
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is likely that his military enlistment was the condition required by Isabel's family, eager to be rid of such an ill presentable son-in-law, to forgive him for carrying her away. Lope's luck again served him well, however, and his ship, the ''San Juan'', was one of the vessels to make it home to Spanish harbors in the aftermath of that failed expedition. Back in Spain by December 1588, he settled in the city of
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
. There he lived with Isabel de Urbina and continued perfecting his dramatic formula participating regularly in the ''
tertulia A tertulia (, ; pt, tertúlia ; ca, tertúlia ) is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberian Peninsula, Iberia or in Spanish America. Tertulia also means an informal meeting of people to talk about current affa ...
'' known as the ''Academia de los nocturnos'', in the company of such accomplished dramatists as the
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...
Francisco Agustín Tárrega, the secretary to the
Duke of Gandía Duke of Gandía ( ca-valencia, Ducat de Gandia, ) is a title of Spanish nobility that was first created in 1399 by Martin of Aragon and granted to Alfonso of Aragon and Foix. It has its origin in the Manorialism, lordship of Gandía created in 13 ...
Gaspar de Aguilar, Guillén de Castro, Carlos Boyl, and Ricardo de Turia. With them he refined his approach to theatrical writing by violating the unity of action and weaving two plots together in a single play, a technique known as imbroglio. In 1590, at the end of his two years' exile from the realm, he moved to Toledo to serve Francisco de Ribera Barroso, who later became the 2nd Marquis of Malpica, and, some time later,
Antonio Álvarez de Toledo, 5th Duke of Alba Antonio Álvarez de Toledo y Beaumont, 5th Duke of Alba, Grandee of Spain, (in full, es, Don Antonio Álvarez de Toledo y Beaumont de Navarra, quinto duque de Alba de Tormes, tercer duque de Huéscar, sexto conde de Lerín y de Salvatierra, quinto ...
. In this later appointment he became gentleman of the bedchamber to the ducal court of the
House of Alba The House of Alba de Tormes ( es, Casa de Alba de Tormes), commonly known as the House of Alba, is a prominent Spanish noble family that descended from 12th-century nobility of post-conquest Toledo. The family's claim to Alba de Tormes dates fr ...
, where he lived from 1592 to 1595. Here he read the work of
Juan del Encina Juan del Encina (July 12, 1468 – 1529 or 1530) was a composer, poet, and playwright, often called the founder, along with Gil Vicente, of Spanish drama. His birth name was Juan de Fermoselle. He spelled his name Enzina, but this is not a signi ...
, from whom he improved the character of the ''donaire'', perfecting still further his dramatic formula. In the fall of 1594, Isabel de Urbina died of
postpartum The postpartum (or postnatal) period begins after childbirth and is typically considered to end within 6 weeks as the mother's body, including hormone levels and uterus size, returns to a non-pregnant state. The terms puerperium, puerperal pe ...
complications. It was around this time that Lope wrote his pastoral novel ''La Arcadia'', which included many poems and was based on the Duke's household in Alba de Tormes.


Return to Castile

In 1595, following Isabel's death in childbirth, he left the Duke's service and – eight years having passed – returned to Madrid. There were other love affairs and other scandals: Antonia Trillo de Armenta, who earned him another lawsuit, and Micaela de Luján, an illiterate but beautiful actress, who inspired a rich series of sonnets, rewarded him with four children and was his lover until around 1608. In 1598, he married Juana de Guardo, the daughter of a wealthy butcher. Nevertheless, his trysts with others – including Micaela – continued. In the 17th century Lope's literary output reached its peak. From 1607 he was also employed as a secretary, but not without various additional duties, by the Duke of Sessa. Once that decade was over, however, his personal situation took a turn for the worse. His favorite son, Carlos Félix (by Juana), died and, in 1612, Juana herself died in childbirth. After the heartbreaking loss of his son and lover, Lope summoned his remaining children still alive under the same roof to devote himself to Christianity. His writing in the early 1610s also assumed heavier religious influences and, in 1614, he joined the priesthood. The taking of holy orders did not, however, impede his romantic dalliances; what is more, he supplied his employer the duke with various female companions. The most notable and lasting of Lope's relationships was with Marta de Nevares, who met him in 1616 and would remain with him until her death in 1632. Further tragedies followed in 1635 with the loss of Lope, his son by Micaela and a worthy poet in his own right, in a shipwreck off the coast of
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, and the abduction and subsequent abandonment of his beloved youngest daughter Antonia. Lope de Vega took to his bed and died of scarlet fever, in Madrid, on 27 August of that year.


Priesthood

The period of life that characterizes priestly ordination of Lope de Vega was one of profound existential crisis, perhaps impelled by the death of close relatives. To this inspiration respond his Sacred Rhymes and the numerous devout works he began to compose, as well as the meditative and philosophical tone that appears in his last verses. On the night of December 19, 1611, the writer was the victim of an assassination attempt from which he could barely escape. Juana de Guardo suffered frequent illnesses and in 1612 Carlos Félix died of fevers. On August 13 of the following year, Juana de Guardo died while giving birth to Feliciana. So many misfortunes affected Lope emotionally, and on May 24, 1614, he finally decided to be ordained a priest. The literary expression of this crisis and its repentances are the Sacred Rhymes, published in 1614; there it says: "If the body wants to be earth on earth / the soul wants to be heaven in heaven", unredeemed dualism that constitutes all its essence. The Sacred Rhymes constitute a book at the same time introspective in the sonnets (he uses the technique of the spiritual exercises that he learned in his studies with the Jesuits) as devotee for the poems dedicated to diverse saints or inspired in the sacred iconography, then in full deployment thanks to the recommendations emanated from the
Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described a ...
. In 1627 he was admitted as a knight of the
Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
. This was an enormous honour for him since he had always taken an interest in orders of chivalry. In 1603 he had published the play ''El valor de Malta'' (The Valour of Malta) about the maritime battles of the Order. In his portrait by Eugenio Caxés he wears the habit of the Order of Malta.


Work

Lope's non-dramatic works were collected and published in Spain in the eighteenth century under the title ''Obras Sueltas'' (Madrid, 21 vols., 1776–79). The more important elements of this collection include the following: *''La Arcadia'' (1598), a pastoral romance; *''La Dragontea'' (1598), an epic poem of Sir Francis Drake's last expedition and death; *''El Isidro'' (1599), a poetic narrative of the life of Saint Isidore, future
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of Madrid, composed in octosyllabic quintillas; *''La Hermosura de Angélica'' (1602), an epic poem in three books, is a quasi sequel to
Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...
's ''Orlando Furioso''. Lope de Vega was one of the greatest Spanish poets of his time, along with
Luis de Góngora Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic priest. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered the most prominent ...
and
Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora ...
. His poems of Moorish and pastoral themes were extremely popular in the 1580s and 1590s, and in these, he portrayed elements of his own love affairs (appearing as a moor called Zaide or a shepherd called Belardo). In 1602 he published two hundred sonnets in the collection ''La Hermosura de Angélica'' and in 1604 he republished them with new material in ''Rimas''. In 1614, his religious sonnets appeared in a book entitled ''Rimas sacras'', which was another bestseller. In 1634, in a third book with similar title, ''Rimas humanas y divinas del licenciado Tomé de Burguillos'', which has been considered his poetic masterpiece and the most modern book of 17th-century poetry, Lope created a heteronym, he concludes the identity of Tome de Burguillos, who has a deep and intimate romantic connection with a maid named Juana. This is a direct comparison and clash with Lope's skeptical outlook on society.


Background

Lope was the playwright who established in Spanish drama the three-act '' comedia'' as the definitive form, ignoring the precepts of the prevailing school of his contemporaries. In ''Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo'' (1609), which was his artistic manifesto and the justification of his style which broke the neoclassical
three unities The classical unities, Aristotelian unities, or three unities represent a prescriptive theory of dramatic tragedy that was introduced in Italy in the 16th century and was influential for three centuries. The three unities are: #''unity of action' ...
of place, time and action, he showed that he knew the established rules of poetry but refused to follow them on the grounds that the "vulgar" Spaniard cared nothing about them: "Let us then speak to him in the language of fools, since it is he who pays us" are famous lines from his manifesto. Lope boasted that he was a Spaniard ''pur sang'' (pure-blooded), maintaining that a writer's business is to write so as to make himself understood, and took the position of a defender of the language of ordinary life. Lope's literary influence was chiefly Latin-Italian and, while he defended the tradition of the nation and the simplicity of the old Castilian, he emphasized his university education and the difference between those educated in the classics and the layman. The majority of his works were written in haste and to order. Lope confessed that "more than a hundred of my comedies have taken only twenty-four hours to pass from the
Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
s to the boards of the theatre." His biographer Pérez de Montalbán tells how in Toledo, Lope composed fifteen acts in as many days – five comedies in two weeks. In spite of some discrepancies in the figures, Lope's own records indicate that by 1604 he had composed 230 three-act plays (''comedias''). The figure had risen to 483 by 1609, to 800 by 1618, to 1000 by 1620, and to 1500 by 1632. Montalbán, in his ''Fama Póstuma'' (1636) set down the total of Lope's dramatic productions at 1800 ''comedias'' and more than 400 shorter sacramental plays. Of these, 637 plays are known by their titles, but only about 450 are extant. Many of these pieces were printed during Lope's lifetime, mostly by the playwright himself in the shape of twelve-play volumes, but also by booksellers who surreptitiously bought manuscripts from the actors who performed them.


Themes and sources

The classification of this large mass of dramatic literature is a task of great difficulty. The terms traditionally employed – comedy, tragedy, and the like – are difficult to apply to Lope's oeuvre and another approach to categorization has been suggested. Lope's work essentially belongs to the drama of intrigue, the plot determining everything else. Lope used history, especially Spanish history, as his main source of subject matter. There were few national and patriotic subjects, from the reign of King Pelayo to the history of his own age, he did not put upon the stage. Nevertheless, Lope's most celebrated plays belong to the class called ''capa y espada'' (" cloak and dagger"), where the plots are chiefly love intrigues along with affairs of honor, most commonly involving the
petty nobility The petty nobility is the lower nobility classes. Finland Petty nobility in Finland is dated at least back to 13th century and was formed by nobles around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader roles in local c ...
of medieval Spain. Among the best known works of this class are ''El perro del hortelano'' (''
The Dog in the Manger The story and metaphor of The Dog in the Manger derives from an old Greek fable which has been transmitted in several different versions. Interpreted variously over the centuries, the metaphor is now used to speak of one who spitefully prevents o ...
''), ''El castigo sin venganza'' ('' Punishment without Revenge''), and ''El maestro de danzar'' (''The Dance Teacher''). In some of these, Lope strives to set forth some moral maxim and to illustrate its abuse with a living example. On the theme that poverty is no crime, in the play ''Las Flores de Don Juan'', he uses the history of two brothers to illustrate the triumph of virtuous poverty over opulent vice, while indirectly attacking the institution of primogeniture, which often places in the hands of an unworthy person the honor and substance of a family when younger members would be better qualified for the trust. However, such morality pieces are rare in Lope's repertory; generally, his aim is to amuse and stir with his focus being on the plot, not concerning himself with instruction. In ''El villano en su rincón'', described as a romantic comedy,
Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...
ends up spending the night in a woodcutter's hut, after becoming lost during a hunt, resulting in a confrontation between peasant-philosopher and king. The peasant's refusal to even look upon the king's magnificence, grand and dramatic compared with the humble ''rincón'', is rebuked by a gentleman of the king's court: "a king of such might/that the Scythian and fierce Turk/tremble before his golden fleurs de lis!"


Legacy

Lope encountered a poorly organized dramatic tradition; plays were sometimes composed in four acts, sometimes in three, and though they were written in verse, the structure of the versification was left to the individual writer. Because the Spanish public liked it, he adopted the style of drama which was then in vogue. He enlarged its narrow framework to a great degree, introducing a wide range of material for dramatic situations – the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
, ancient mythology, the
lives of the saints A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...
, ancient history, Spanish history, the legends of the Middle Ages, the writings of the Italian novelists, current events, and everyday Spanish life in the 17th century. Prior to Lope, playwrights sketched the conditions of persons and their characters superficially. With fuller observation and more careful description, Lope de Vega depicted real character types with language and accouterments appropriate to their position in society. The old comedy was awkward and poor in its versification. Lope introduced order into all the forms of national poetry, from the old romance couplets to the lyrical combinations borrowed from Italy. He wrote that those who should come after him had only to go on along the path which he had opened. Lope de Vega also encountered other poets who were unimpressed with his discoveries and attempted to defame his writing. The Spanish poet Pedro de Torres Rámila wrote his thoughts on Lope in his Latin satire ''Spongia'' (Paris, 1617). Torres wrote personal attacks on Lope's sacramental plays and sought to scandalize his name and reputation. This attempt backfired on Torres due to the overwhelmingly negative responses his ''Spongia'' received from the public after its release. Scholars and poets alike came to the defense of Lope de Vega and wrote many counterclaims against the ''Spongia'' directed at Torres himself, like
Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca (1451–1524) was a Spanish archbishop, a courtier and bureaucrat, whose position as royal chaplain to Queen Isabella enabled him to become a powerful counsellor to Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs. He co ...
's ''Exposulatio Spongiae''


List of works


Plays

Listed here are some of the better-known of de Vega's plays: * ''El maestro de danzar'' (1594) (''The Dancing Master'') * ''Los locos de Valencia'' ('' Madness in Valencia'') * ''El acero de Madrid'' ('' The Steel of Madrid'') * ''El perro del Hortelano'' ('' The Gardener's Dog'', a variation of
The Dog in the Manger The story and metaphor of The Dog in the Manger derives from an old Greek fable which has been transmitted in several different versions. Interpreted variously over the centuries, the metaphor is now used to speak of one who spitefully prevents o ...
fable) * '' La viuda valenciana'' * '' Peribáñez y el comendador de Ocaña'' * '' Fuenteovejuna'' * ''El anzuelo de Fenisa'' ('' Fenisa's Hook'') * ''El cordobés valeroso Pedro Carbonero'' * ''Mujeres y criados'' (''Women and Servants'') * ''El mejor alcalde, el Rey'' (''
The Best Mayor, The King ''The Best Mayor, The King'' (''El mejor alcalde, el rey'') is a play by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega, written between 1620 and 1623 according to the dating proposed by Morley and Bruerton. It was published in 1635 in the twenty-first part ...
'') * ''El Nuevo Mundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón'' (''The New World Discovered by Christopher Columbus'') * ''El caballero de Olmedo'' (''The Knight from Olmedo'') * '' La dama boba'' ('' The Stupid Lady''; '' The Lady-Fool'') * ''El amor enamorado'' * ''El castigo sin venganza'' ('' Punishment Without Revenge'') * '' Las bizarrías de Belisa'' * ''El mayordomo de la duquesa de Amalfi'' (''The Duchess of Amalfi's Steward'') * ''Lo Fingido Verdadero'' (''What you Pretend Has Become Real'') * ''El niño inocente de La Guardia'' (''The Innocent Child of La Guardia'') * ''La fe rompida'' * ''El Honrado Hermano'' (''The Honourable Brother'', based in the Classic story of the Horatii and Curiatii)


Opera

* ''La selva sin amor'' (18 December 1627) (''The Lovelorn Forest''), the first Spanish
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
, with music by Alessandro Piccinini.


Epic poems and lyrical poetry

* ''La Dragontea'' (1598) ("Drake the Pirate") * ''El Isidro'' (1599) ("Isidro") * ''La hermosura de Angélica'' (1602) ("The Beauty of Angelica") * ''Rimas'' (1602) ("Rhymes") * ''Arte nuevo de hacer comedias'' (1609) * ''Jerusalén conquistada'' (1609) * ''Rimas sacras'' (1614) * ''La Filomena'' (1621) * ''La Circe'' (1624) * ''El laurel de Apolo'' (1630) * ''La Gatomaquia'' (1634) * ''Rimas humanas y divinas del licenciado Tomé de Burguillos'' (1634)


Prose fiction

* ''Arcadia'' (published 1598) (''The Arcadia''), pastoral romance in prose, interspersed with verse * ''El peregrino en su patria'' (published 1604) (''The Pilgrim in his Own Country''), adaption of Byzantine novels * ''Pastores de Belen : prosas y versos divinos'' (published 1614) * ''Novelas a Marcia Leonarda'' ** ''Las fortunas de Diana'' (published 1621) ** ''La desdicha por la honra'' (published 1624) ** ''La más prudente venganza'' (published 1624) ** ''Guzmán el Bravo'' (published 1624) * ''La Dorotea'' (published 1632)


In popular culture

In
Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed hi ...
's alternate history novel ''
Ruled Britannia ''Ruled Britannia'' is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove, first published in hardcover by New American Library in 2002. The book is set in the years 1597–1598, in an alternate universe where the Spanish Armada is successful in 158 ...
'', in which the Spanish Armada was successful, Vega is depicted as a Spanish soldier-playwright on occupation duty in defeated England, who interacts with
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. The novel's viewpoint narration alternates between the two playwrights. A 2010 Spanish-language film about de Vega, entitled '' Lope'', is available with English subtitles as ''The Outlaw''. Vega is played by actor
Víctor Clavijo Víctor Clavijo Cobos (born 28 September 1973) is a Spanish actor. He earned early public recognition in Spain for his performance in the serial ''Al salir de clase''. Biography Víctor Clavijo Cobos was born in Algeciras on 28 September 1973. ...
in the Spanish TV series ''
El Ministerio del Tiempo ''El ministerio del tiempo'' (English title: ''The Ministry of Time'') is a Spanish fantasy television series created by Javier and Pablo Olivares and produced by Onza Partners and Cliffhanger for Televisión Española (TVE). It premiered on 24 ...
''. In his first appearance he played Vega in 1588, on the eve of the Spanish Armada, while the second episode depicted Vega in 1604.


Tribute

A
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in Northern Samar in the Philippines was named after de Vega, created in 1980 from the 22 barangays of Catarmán. On November 25, 2017,
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
celebrated his 455th birthday with a
Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
.


Notes


Sources

* Calderón, Lope de Vega and (2019). ''Theatre Database.'' Retrieved from http://www.theatredatabase.com/17th_century/calderon_and_lope_de_vega.html * Goldáraz, Luis H. (2018, November 30). Lope, el verso y la vida . Libertad Digital. Retrieved from https://www.libertaddigital.com/cultura/libros/2018-11-30/antonio-sanchez-jimenez-presenta-la-biografia-de-lope-de-vega-1276629134/ * * Hennigfeld, Ursula (2008). ''Der ruinierte Körper. Petrarkistische Sonette in transkultureller Perspektive''. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann. * Ray Keck, author of ''Love's Dialectic: Mimesis and Allegory in the Romances of Lope de Vega'' * * Lope de Vega, Félix Arturo (2019). ''LibriVox''. Retrieved from https://librivox.org/author/229?primary_key=229&search_category=author&search_page=1&search_form=get_results * Lope de Vega, The Works of (2011). ''Spanish Books''. Retrieved from https://www.classicspanishbooks.com/16th-cent-baroque-lope-works.html * Lope Felix de (Carpio) Vega. (2011). ''Hutchinson’s Biography Database'', 1. * Morley, S., & Allardice, L. (2003). Double takes. ''New Statesman'', ''132''(4639), 46. * Vega Carpio, Félix Lope de (2019). ''Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition'', 1. * Vega Carpio, Lope Felix de (2000). ''Theatre History.'' Retrieved from http://www.theatrehistory.com/spanish/lope001.html * Vega, Lope de (2012). ''Britannica Biographies'', 1. ;In Spanish * Alonso, Dámaso, ''En torno a Lope'', Madrid, Gredos, 1972, 212 pp. * Castro, Américo y Hugo A. Rennert, ''Vida de Lope de Vega: (1562-1635)'' ed. de Fernando Lázaro Carreter, Salamanca, 1968. * De Salvo, Mimma, «Notas sobre Lope de Vega y Jerónima de Burgos: un estado de la cuestión», pub. en ''Homenaje a Luis Quirante. Cuadernos de Filología''
anejo L, 2 vols., tomo I, 2002, págs. 141-156
revisada en 2008. URL. Consulta 28-09-2010. * «Lengua y literatura, Historia de las literaturas», en ''Enciclopedia metódica Larousse'', vol. III, Ciudad de México, Larousse, 1983, págs 99–100. * Huerta Calvo, Javier, ''Historia del Teatro Español'', Madrid, Gredos, 2003. * Menéndez Pelayo, Marcelino, ''Estudios sobre el teatro de Lope de Vega'', Madrid, Editorial Artes Gráficas, 1949, 6 volúmenes. * MONTESINOS, José Fernández, ''Estudios sobre Lope de Vega'', Salamanca, Anaya, 1967. * Pedraza Jiménez, Felipe B., ''El universo poético de Lope de Vega'', Madrid, Laberinto, 2004. ** —, ''Perfil biográfico'', Barcelona, Teide, 1990, págs. 3-23. * Rozas, Juan Manuel, ''Estudios sobre Lope de Vega'', Madrid, Cátedra, 1990. * Pedraza Jiménez, Felipe B., ''Lope de Vega: pasiones, obra y fortuna del monstruo de naturaleza'', EDAF, Madrid, 2009 (). * Arellano, Ignacio, ''Historia del teatro español del siglo XVII'', Cátedra, Madrid, 1995 (). * Arellano, Ignacio; Mata, Carlos; ''Vida y obra de Lope de Vega, Bibliotheca homolegens'', Madrid, 2011 ().


External links

* * * * * * *
Audiobooks. Read, listen along and download Lope de Vega's poetry in Spanish. Free
at AlbaLearning
Lope de Vega's House Museum (Madrid)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vega, Lope De 1562 births 1635 deaths Spanish poets Baroque writers Spanish Baroque people Spanish Golden Age 16th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights 16th-century Spanish poets 16th-century Spanish writers 16th-century male writers 17th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights 17th-century Spanish poets 17th-century Spanish writers Deaths from streptococcus infection Infectious disease deaths in Spain Knights of Malta Roman Catholic writers Spanish male dramatists and playwrights Spanish male poets Spanish Roman Catholics Writers from Madrid Spanish writers