De tollos, barros y cínicos: léxico y caracterización en un políptico métrico de El acero de Madrid», de Lope de Vega

This paper studies a famous comedy by Lope de Vega, El acero de Madrid, departing from a lexicographical detail that allows us to analyze how the playwright builds his characters, as well as to reflect on certain mechanisms present not only in this comedy, but in many others by Lope. Specifically, we examine two popular songs which Lisardo, Riselo, and Beltrán gloss in Acts I and II. First, we study the meaning of the word “tollo”, which appears in the second glosa, resorting to testimonies of the lexicographers of the time and to other occurrences in the Lopean corpus. Secondly, we analyze the glosas in the context of one of Lope's habits: introducing paired sonnets and octavas (in diptychs or polyptychs). Thirdly, we reflect on the genealogy of the comments pronounced by Riselo and Beltrán in these glosas, which we study by resorting to other comedies by Lope and La Dorotea, as well as to a tradition that ultimately stems from La Celestina.