His language is characterized by its richness and its sermon-like tendency to repeat the same concept in several different ways. Noted for being very creative and alive, his work utilizes colloquial, popular vocabulary. His natural gifts were supplemented by his varied culture; he clearly had a considerable knowledge of the colloquial (and perhaps also of literary) Arabic widely spoken in the Spain of his time; his classical reading was apparently not extensive, but he knew by heart the "Disticha" of Dionysius Cato, and admits his indebtedness to Ovid and to the "De Amore" ascribed to Pamphilus; his references to Blanchefleur, to Tristan and to Yseult, indicate an acquaintance with French literature, and he utilizes the " fabliaux" with remarkable deftness; lastly, he adapts fables and apologues from Aesop, from Pedro Alfonso's "Disciplina clericalis", and from medieval bestiaries.