Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Born in Madrid in 1600, Pedro Calderón de la Barca became one of the great dramatists and poets of the Spanish Golden Age. He studied at leading schools and universities, served for a time as a soldier, and wrote for the court of Philip IV. He is widely seen as the major successor to Lope de Vega in Spanish theater.

Calderón wrote a large body of work that includes secular plays and religious dramas, often combining gripping action with big questions about freedom, destiny, honor, and the nature of reality. His most famous play, Life Is a Dream, remains his best-known work, and his writing helped define the rich, intellectual style of 17th-century Spanish drama.

Later in life he was ordained as a priest, yet he continued to write and remained an important cultural figure in Madrid until his death in 1681. His plays have been translated, performed, and studied around the world, and he is still remembered as one of the central voices of Spanish literature.