MIRA DE AMESCU, ANTONIO. — Spanish poet, b. in Guadix c. 1574, d. there on 8 Sept. 1644. He was impatient of discipline in life (even as archdeacon of his native cathedral) and in his vast output as a playwright, modeled on the patterns of Lope de Vega.
In his autos (Christmas, Eucharistic, Marian) and biblical plays, the intuition of symbol is weak; in hagiographical works and those of historical or intrigue-based subject matter, generally effective is his constructive skill and delineation of characters, sometimes sharply drawn. His style ranges between popular exhaustion, cultismo, and Calderón’s splendor; his ethical interest is constant. *La mesonera del cielo* reprises the theme of Abraham and the redeemed courtesan, already treated by the nun Rosvita. The play *El esclavo del demonio*, a reworking of the legend of Gil de Santarem who bargains his soul with the devil and later redeems it through harsh penances, has been considered by M. Pelayo a worthy younger sister of *El condenado por desconfiado* by Tirso de Molina.