Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

Works

Great Britain

• Sir William Alexander:
  • Aurora^[1]
  • A Paraenesis to the Prince (to Henry, Prince of Wales)^[1]
• Thomas Bateson, Cantus (the first English madrigals)
• Nicholas Breton, The Passionate Shepheard; or, The Shepheardes Love, written under the pen name "Bonerto"^[1]
• Thomas Churchyard, Churchyards Good Will, on the death of John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury^[1]
• John Cooke, Epigrames^[1]
• Thomas Dekker, Newes from Graves-end: Sent to Nobody, published anonymously^[1]
• Michael Drayton:
  • Moyses in a Map of his Miracles^[1]
  • The Owle^[1]
  • A Paean Triumphall^[1]
• Samuel Rowlands, Looke to it: for, Ile Stabbe Ye^[1]
• Anthony Skoloker, Daiphantus, or the Passions of Love

Other

• Bernardo de Balbuena, La Grandeza Mexicana ("Mexico's Grandeur"), Spanish poet and churchman at this time in Mexico
• Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye, Discours pour servir de Préface sur le Sujet de la Satyre ("Discourse Serving as a Preface on the Subject of Satire") published from this year through 1605

Births

• January 4 – Jakob Balde (died 1668), German scholar, poet and teacher
• July 8 – Heinrich Albert (died 1651), German composer and poet
• August 4 – François Hédelin (died 1676), French abbé of Aubignac and Meymac, poet and playwright
• October 16 – Assoucy (died 1677), French musician and burlesque poet
• November 23 (bapt.) – Jasper Mayne (died 1672), English clergyman, translator, minor poet and dramatist
• Also:
  • Charles Cotin (died 1681), French abbé, philosopher and poet
  • Girolamo Graziani (died 1675), Italian poet
  • Philippe Habert (died 1637), French poet
  • Cheng Zhengkui (died 1670), Chinese landscape painter and poet

Deaths

• April 1 – Thomas Churchyard (born c. 1520), English poet and author
• June 24 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (born 1550), English courtier, playwright, poet, sportsman, patron of numerous writers, and sponsor of at least two acting companies
• October 8 – Janus Dousa (born 1545), Dutch statesman, historian, poet and philologist
• November – Thomas Storer (born c. 1571), English poet
• Also – Ma Xianglan (born 1548), Chinese artist, playwright, poet and calligrapher; a woman^[2]