Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Publication Date

5-8-1974

Abstract

It is not uncommon for authors or other artists to attain fame in their lifetimes and then fall into oblivion with the passage of time. In Spain this is especially true of some of the playwrights of the Golden Age, for there was a great proliferation of dramatists during this period. Damián Salucio del Poyo, a Murcian playwright, is one of these forgotten figures. During his lifetime Poyo was highly praised by his contemporaries who regarded him as one of the best dramatists at the beginning of the seventeenth century; however, he was all but forgotten by the end of that century. The purpose of this study is to examine the preserved dramas of Salucio del Poyo and to reevaluate them in the context of the state of the Spanish theater in his day. Chapter I examines the biography and reputation of the dramatist, a biography complicated by the existence of two first cousins with the same name. Concerning his fame, Poyo received high accolades from such great Spanish authors as Lope de Vega and Miguel de Cervantes. Of the many comedias that he supposedly wrote, only six have been preserved. Chapter II analyzes the two plays based upon the life of Ruy López de Avalos, third Constable of Castile and the privado of both Enrique III and Juan II. These are the best known works of Salucio del Poyo, but not necessarily his best works. Chapters III-VI examine Poyo's lesser known plays, based, respectively, on the lives of Don Alvaro de Luna, Judas Iscariot, Alfonso el Sabio, and Cardinal Silíceo. As with the Ruy López dramas, each of these is an historical play which emphasizes in some way the theme of the mutability of fortune. The Don Alvaro and Judas Iscariot plays are the best examples of Poyo’s art, while the other two are decidedly inferior and add nothing to the author's reputation. The influence of Salucio del Poyo on the Spanish comedia in general and on Antonio Mira de Amescua in particular is quite profound. Poyo is the originator of the comedia de privanza, a very popular type of drama during the first half of the seventeenth century. Nearly every major dramatist in Spain followed the example of Poyo in composing at least one drama treating the theme of privanza. Poyo was capable of writing good tragedy, and his Privança y cayda de don Alvaro de Luna contains numerous elements of Aristotelian tragedy. Another of the strengths seen in his plays is vivid characterization, particularly that of minor characters and matron figures, an infrequently used personage in the Golden Age theater. Overall, though, Poyo has a tendency to be episodic and his plays lack dramatic unity. Poyo never quite succeeds in giving full literary fruition to the lofty visions he conceives for his art.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

First Committee Member (Chair)

Raymond Ralph MacCurdy

Second Committee Member

Tamara Holzapfel

Third Committee Member

Julián Eugene White Jr.

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