Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Calderón de la Barca, Pedro (1600–81), Spanish playwright and poet. He and Lope de Vega were the leading dramatists of Spain's Golden Age. He wrote over 200 plays, distinguished by their heightened style and poetic symbolism, many on religious themes. Among his most famous works are The Constant Prince (1629), Life Is a Dream (1635), and The Surgeon of His Honor (1635).