1618 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1618.
Events
- January – Lady Hay and eight other Court ladies plan and rehearse a Ladies' Masque or Masque for Ladies, intended for a Twelfth Night performance, but it is cancelled a few days before, either by King James or Queen Anne.
- January 4 – Sir Francis Bacon is appointed Lord Chancellor by King James I of England.
- April 6 – The King's Men perform Twelfth Night at Court.
- April 7 – The King's Men perform The Winter's Tale at Court.
- July – Ben Jonson sets out to walk to Scotland.
- Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, begins remodelling the Paris residence which becomes the Hôtel de Rambouillet to form a literary salon.
New books
Prose
- William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley – Certain Precepts or Directions, For the Well-ordering and Carriage of a Man's Life
- Renold Elstracke – Braziliologia
- Vicente Espinel – Relaciones de la vida del escudero Marcos de Obregón
- Robert Fludd – De Musica Mundana
- Michael Maier – Atalanta Fugiens
- *Themis aurea
- Daniel Mögling – Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-Stauroticum
- John Selden – ''History of Tythes''
Drama
- Anonymous – The Tragedy of Amurath
- Jakob Ayrer – Opus Theatricum published
- Guillén de Castro y Bellvis – Comedias, part 1
- Lope de Vega
- *
- *El rey don Pedro en Madrid
- Nathan Field – Amends for Ladies published
- John Fletcher – The Loyal Subject
- Peter Heylin – Theomachia
- Barten Holyday – Technogamia
- Ben Jonson – masques
- *Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue
- *''For the Honour of Wales''
Poetry
- Jacob Cats – Emblemata
- Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar – Rimas
- John Taylor – ''The Pennylesse Pilgrimage''
Births
- March 23 – Ferrante Pallavicino, Italian satirist
- April – Agustín Moreto y Cavana, Spanish dramatist and priest
- Unknown dates
- *Thomas Blount, English antiquary and lexicographer,
- *Abraham Cowley, English poet
- *Raffaello Fabretti, Italian antiquary
- *Isaac Vossius, Dutch scholar and librarian
- Probable year of birth – Jacques Chausson, French writer and criminal
Deaths
- July – John Davies of Hereford, Anglo-Welsh poet
- July 26 – Martinus Smiglecius, Polish Jesuit philosopher
- August 23 – Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero, Dutch poet
- September 22 – Jacobus Taurinus, Dutch theologian
- September 28 – Joshua Sylvester, English poet
- October 29 – Sir Walter Ralegh, English adventurer and author
- Unknown dates
- *François de Boivin, French chronicler
- *Richard Stanihurst, Irish translator of Virgil
- Probable year – Bento Teixeira, Portuguese poet