Lope de Vega

Vega, Lope de (1562–1635), Spanish dramatist and poet credited with founding Spain's national drama. A prolific writer, Lope produced 426 plays of which 42 short ones survive. He also wrote narrative poetry, prose romances, and a poetical essay, The New Art of Writing Plays (1609), that expounded his theories of drama. His main themes were the friction between the masses and a corrupt nobility and the conflicts of honor and passion.