The late Renaissance in Spain was a period of progressive military, diplomatic and social defeat, and the spirit of the Spaniards, moving from confidence to doubt, reflected a growing disillusion with grandeur. After an examination of optimism and pessimism in terms of the baroque period, Professor Green discusses 'desengaño' - dillusion - as a related and prevalent factor. In its positive aspect, disillusion was a form of wisdom, that the Stoic Sapiens who was fully aware of what constituted the supreme good and was enticed by nothing else. The factors are apparent in the Spanish attitude toward death. When he writes in seriousness, the Spaniard of the baroque period recognises death the obedient executor of the will of a just and merciful God. Thus, the concept of the Spanish seventeenth century as one of total despair collapses in the presence of the evidence adduced. Far removed from attitudes of despondency, the originality of Spain's literary accomplishments reached full tide in the baroque period, a literary age characterized by the growth of a new sophistication. The use of brilliant metaphor, of allegory, of double and triple meanings of words to form bridges of intellectual association, is the result of a consistent growth that developed inevitably from the Renaissance style. -- Publisher's description.