BONILLA, ALONSO de. — Spanish poet, born toward the end of the 16th century and considered, along with his contemporary Alonso de Ledesma, a precursor of *conceptismo a lo divino*. Indeed, his convoluted and subtle poetry draws especially on Christian theology, skillfully employing strange wordplays, antitheses, and forced comparisons, even incorporating popular inflections and simple, brief strophic forms (romances, villancicos, canzonettes). He was, however, a prolific poet and not infrequently admired: he sang of the Virgin, the saints, divine mysteries, meditating on the moral precepts of religion, eternal life, and so on. Lope de Vega confessed that he did not know anyone who equaled him.
Among his best works are the *Peregrinos pensamientos de misterios divinos* (1614) and the *Nuevo jardín de flores divinas* (1617), but one should not forget the *Glosas a la Inmaculada y pura Concepción de la siempre Virgen María* (1615) and the *Nombres y atributos a la Impecable siempre Virgen María* (1624). Sonnets, villancicos, pastoral colloquies, glosses, etc. are collected in the *Biblioteca de autores españoles* (35: *Romancero y cancionero sagrados*, Madrid 1872, pp. 44, 45, 70-73, 139-141, 210, 221-225, 226, 228-230, 232, 236, 311, 314-315).