MIRA DE AMESCUA, ANTONIO. - Spanish poet, born at Guadix about 1574, died there on 8 Sept. 1644. He was impatient of discipline both in life (even as archdeacon of his native cathedral) and in his extensive work as a writer for the theatre, modelled on the patterns of Lope de Vega.
In the autos (Christmas, Eucharistic, Marian) and in the biblical comedies, his intuition of symbolism is weak; in the hagiographical plays and those of historical subject matter and intrigue, his constructive skill and delineation of character are generally effective, at times cast in strong relief. His style oscillates between popular exhaustion, cultismo, and Calderonian splendour; ethical interest is constant. La mesonera del cielo takes up the theme of Abraham and the redeemed courtesan, already treated by the nun Rosvita. The comedy El esclavo del demonio, a reworking of the legend of Gil de Santarem, who bargains his soul with the devil and then redeems it through harsh penances, was considered by M. Pelayo a worthy younger sister of Tirso de Molina’s El condenado por desconfiado.