Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of Don Quixote, died in Madrid on April 22, 1616, just days before Shakespeare. His masterpiece had already transformed narrative fiction by blending realism with fantasy, creating a work that questioned the nature of truth and fiction while parodying chivalric romances popular in earlier Spanish literature.

Cervantes' innovative narrative techniques influenced prose poetry and experimental verse forms across Europe. His metafictional approach inspired later poets to question literary conventions, while his portrayal of idealism versus reality resonated through Romantic poetry and modernist works that explored subjective experience.