biography
| name: |
López de Zárate, Francisco
|
pronunciation:
[lohpeth thay t
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1580–1658)
|
| biography:
| Poet and playwright, born in Logroño, N Spain. He was secretary to the adventurer Rodrigo Calderón, who assumed the title of Marqués de Siete Iglesias in the time of Felipe III. In 1624 he composed in 2058 octavas the best of the somewhat tedious religious epics then in vogue, Poema heroico de la invención de la Cruz (1648), but disregarded the extraordinary story of the Empress Helena and the exploits of Constantine against Maxentius in favour of a colourless account of a contest between Constantine and an imaginary king of Persia on the banks of the Euphrates. He also completed Tragedia de Hércules and the more interesting play La galeota reforzada. His poetry was praised by Cervantes in Persiles y Sigismunda. It was first collected in Varias poesías (1619), again as Obras varias (1651), and by J Simón Días (1947) in the Biblioteca de Antiguos Libros Hispánicos. |
|
|
