Lope de Vega
THE LIFE AND WORKS OF LOPE DE VEGA Lope de Vega (full name Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio) was well known throughout the world as The Phoenix of Spain. He lived his life to become one of the most important playwrights and poets of the Spanish Golden Century Baroque. Born in Madrid on November 25th 1562, he started showing his enormous talent for writing at an early age. During his lifetime he wrote over 1800 comedia pieces and hundreds shorter dramatic pieces of which around 500 were published. Lope de Vega transformed the Spanish theatre and took it to its greater limits. He died on August 27th 1635 and to this day his work remains popular all over the world.
At the age of five, Lope was already showing signs of a genius in the making. He was reading and speaking fluent Spanish and Latin and by the age of 12 he had written his first play. Today, over 80 of his plays are considered masterpieces. When Lope was fourteen, he was enrolled in a Jesuit school in Madrid and studied at the University of Alcala. After his graduation he wanted to follow the footsteps of his patron, Bishop of Avila and become a priest, but his love for women was too great and he realized that the life of celibacy was not his style. In 1583 he joined the military and was a part of the Spanish Navy. After his return to Madrid, Lope officially began his life as a playwright. Here he fell in love with a daughter of a theatre owner, Elena Osorio. She soon left him for another man and Lope started a vitriolic attack on her and her family. Because of this, he got thrown into jail, and soon after was banished from the court for eight years and two years from Castile. In the company of a 16-year-old Isabel de Urbina he went into exile. De Vega was forced to marry her after this. After being married for only a few weeks, Lope went back to serving his country with the Navy. In 1588 the Invincible Armada sailed against England and Lope’s ship was one of the few that returned unharmed.
At the age of five, Lope was already showing signs of a genius in the making. He was reading and speaking fluent Spanish and Latin and by the age of 12 he had written his first play. Today, over 80 of his plays are considered masterpieces. When Lope was fourteen, he was enrolled in a Jesuit school in Madrid and studied at the University of Alcala. After his graduation he wanted to follow the footsteps of his patron, Bishop of Avila and become a priest, but his love for women was too great and he realized that the life of celibacy was not his style. In 1583 he joined the military and was a part of the Spanish Navy. After his return to Madrid, Lope officially began his life as a playwright. Here he fell in love with a daughter of a theatre owner, Elena Osorio. She soon left him for another man and Lope started a vitriolic attack on her and her family. Because of this, he got thrown into jail, and soon after was banished from the court for eight years and two years from Castile. In the company of a 16-year-old Isabel de Urbina he went into exile. De Vega was forced to marry her after this. After being married for only a few weeks, Lope went back to serving his country with the Navy. In 1588 the Invincible Armada sailed against England and Lope’s ship was one of the few that returned unharmed.
Cited: Encyclopædia Britannica. 11th edition ed. New York: The Times, 1910. Print. "Biography of Lope de Vega." TheatreHistory.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2010. <http://www.theatrehistory.com/spanish/bates001.html>. Fox, Dian. Refiguring the hero: from peasant to noble in Lope de Vega and CalderoÌ n. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991. Print. Hayes, Francis C. . Lope de Vega. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1967. Print. Kelly, James. Lope de Vega and the Spanish drama being the Taylorian Lecture (1902) . [Faks.-Neudr.] ed. New York: Haskell, 1971. Print. "Lope de Vega - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lope_de_Vega>. McKendrick, Melveena. Playing the king: Lope de Vega and the limits of conformity. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Tamesis, 2000. Print. Rennert, Hugo A.. The staging of Lope de Vega 's comedias . Paris: Hispanic Society of America, 1906. Print.