Moreto y Cabaña, Agustín [key], 1618–69, dramatic poet of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Madrid. Moreto borrowed and often improved upon the plots of others, chiefly those of Lope de Vega and Calderón. The author of more than 100 plays, he contributed great artistic polish and strong characterization to the Spanish theater. His best-known plays are El lindo don Diego [the handsome Don Diego] and his masterpiece, El desdén con el desdén [meeting contempt with contempt]. He entered a monastery in 1659.
See study by F. Exum, ed. (1986).
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