Francisco de Quevedo (1580 - 1645), a political moralist, is one of the most famous Spanish authors. He wrote comedies, satires, poetry and novels. Various works that Quevedo wrote were related to religion probably because he studied theology. He also studied logic, metaphysics, and physics. A polyglot, among the many languages he could speak were Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, Italian, and English (aside from Spanish, of course).

Life

Francisco de Quevedo was born in Madrid, in September 1580. His parents were Pedro Gomez de Quevedo, who died in 1586, and Maria de Santibañez, who died in 1605. He went under the tutorship of Andres de Ozaeta, a writer, for two years in 1602. 11 years later he worked for the Duke of Osuna, the viceroy of Sicily. Two years after that, Quevedo arrived in Madrid with a donation from Sicily. Using various methods, including bribery, he was able to ensure that the Duke of Osuna became the Viceroy of Naples in 1616. Quevedo then returned to Madrid from Naples to give another donation to insure the Duke's interests. The gig was eventually up however, as the Duke was sent to prison in 1621 and Quevedo lost favour because of his ties with him. He continued writing until his death on 8 September, 1645, in Villanueva de los Infantes.

Works

His works include, among others, various letrillas which are poems. These include:

• Poderoso caballero es don Dinero
• Solamente un dar me agrada, que es el dar en no dar nada
• Vuela, pensamiento, y diles a los ojos que que mas quiero que hay dinero
• Yo he hecho lo que he podido; fortuna lo que ha querido

References

Los Clasicos: Quevedo, A preliminary Study by German Arciniegas