Spanish poet and playwright. Born 1817, died 1893.
Zorrilla depicted the Romantic author as a sloppy bohéme in his Recuerdos del tiempo viejo ("Memories of olden days", 1880). In his plays and poetry, he let himself be inspired by the history of Spain. His long narrative poems, Leyendas, are full of mellifluous verbiage and high drama.
Zorrilla's magnum opus, Granada (1852), is a colourful portrayal of Muslim Spain. In general, the quality of his plays varies, though all are endowed with the same pleasant phraseology, with vibrant action and interesting (though somewhat superficially depicted) persons.
His Don Juan Tenorio (1844) has become, despite its defects, the most performed play over the Don Juan theme in the Spanish-speaking world.