Pedro de Torres Rámila facts for kids

Pedro de Torres Rámila (born 1583 — died 1658) was a Spanish writer. He was known for his poems, funny stories, and for being a Renaissance humanist. A humanist was someone who studied and valued human achievements and classical learning.

Pedro de Torres Rámila was born in Vilarcayo, a town in Burgos, Spain. He became a professor of humanities at important colleges in Alcalá de Henares. These included the Colegio Trilingüe (which taught three languages) and the Greater College of San Ildefonso. He also served as a canon, a type of priest, at a church in Alcalá de Henares. He passed away in the same city.

Early Writings

In 1616, Pedro de Torres Rámila entered a poetry contest in Toledo. He submitted four poems, but these poems are now lost. People believe they might not have been very good. He used different pen names for these poems, such as Trepus Ruitanus Lamira and Juan Pablo Ricci.

Famous for His Criticisms

Torres Rámila became famous for his strong criticisms, especially against other writers. He often wrote from an "Aristotelian" point of view. This means he believed in the rules for writing that came from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

His main target was the very famous Spanish writer Lope de Vega. He also criticized Luis Tribaldos de Tolello, Padre Juan Luis de la Cerda, and José Antonio González de Salas.

The Spongia Satire

Pedro de Torres Rámila is best remembered for a Latin satire called Spongia. A satire is a type of writing that uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize people or ideas. This work was published in Paris in 1617. It was probably written with help from Juan Pablo Mártir Rizo.

The original Spongia book was destroyed by Torres Rámila's enemies. However, it was later put back together by a scholar named Joaquín de Entrambasaguas. He did this in his book Una guerra literaria del Siglo de Oro: Lope de Vega y los preceptistas aristotélicos (1932).

The Spongia contained personal attacks on Lope de Vega. It also criticized Lope's ideas about plays and how he wrote them. Torres Rámila felt that Lope de Vega did not follow Aristotle's rules for drama. In response, a friend of Lope de Vega, Francisco López de Aguilar Coutiño, wrote his own book called Expostulatio Spongiae in 1618.

Influence on Other Writers

Pedro de Torres Rámila also inspired other writers. For example, Cristóbal Suárez de Figueroa used Torres Rámila as the model for a teacher character in his book El pasajero.

See also

In Spanish: Pedro de Torres Rámila para niños