BONILLA, ALONSO de. - Spanish poet, born toward the end of the 16th century and regarded, together with his contemporary Alonso de Ledesma, as a precursor of conceptismo a lo divino: indeed, his convoluted and subtle poetry draws its themes chiefly from Christian theology, skilfully weaving strange plays on words, antitheses, and forced comparisons, even in compositions with popular rhythms and simple, brief strophic forms (romances, villancicos, canzonette). He was, in any case, a prolific poet and not infrequently admired: he sang of the Virgin, the saints, divine mysteries, meditating upon the moral precepts of religion, eternal life, etc. Lope de Vega confessed that he knew no one equal to him.
Among his best works should be mentioned the Peregrinos pensamientos de misterios divinos (1614) and the Nuevo jardín de flores divinas (1617), but neither should 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) be forgotten. Sonnets, villancicos, pastoral dialogues, glosas, etc. are collected in the Biblioteca de autores españoles (35: Romancero y cancionero sagrados, Madrid
1872, pp. 44, 45, 70-73, 139-41, 210, 221-25, 226, 228-230, 232, 236, 311, 314-15).