1677 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1677.
Events
- January 1 – Jean Racine's tragedy Phèdre is first performed, at the Hôtel de Bourgogne (theatre) in Paris.
- February
- *Nathaniel Lee's blank verse tragedy The Rival Queens, or the Death of Alexander the Great is performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, with Mrs. Charlotte Melmoth as Roxana.
- *Thomas Killigrew, ineffective after four years as Master of the Revels, is replaced by his son Charles.
- September – Edward Ravenscroft's tragicomedy King Edgar and Alfreda, on the subject of King Edgar of England. Thomas Rymer's less successful play on the same subject is published in 1678.
- date unknown
- *Roger Morrice begins his Entring Book, a manual diary describing society in the period 1677 to 1691.
- *Froinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh's Grammatica Latino-Hibernica nunc compendiata, the first printed grammar of the Irish language, is published by the Congregation of Propaganda Fide in Rome in the year of his death.
New books
Prose
- Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery – Treatise of the Art of War
- Edward Cocker – Cocker's Arithmetick
- Christian Knorr von Rosenroth – Kabbala Denudata
- John Mason – Major Mason's Brief History of the Pequot War
- John Milton – The History of Britain
- Francis North, 1st Baron Guilford – A Philosophical Essay of Music
- Eirenaeus Philalethes – An Exposition upon Sir George Ripley's Vision.
- Baruch Spinoza – Opera Posthuma
- Fabian Stedman – ''Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing''
Drama
- John Banks – The Rival Kings
- Aphra Behn
- *The Rover
- * The Counterfeit Bridegroom
- *The Debauchee
- Thomas Betterton – The Counterfeit Bridegroom
- William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle – The Humorous Lovers and The Triumphant Widow published
- John Crowne – The Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian, Parts 1 and 2
- Charles Davenant – Circe
- Thomas d'Urfey – A Fond Husband
- John Leanerd – The Country Innocence
- Nathaniel Lee – The Rival Queens
- Thomas Otway
- *The Cheats of Scapin
- *Titus and Berenice
- Samuel Pordage – The Siege of Babylon
- Thomas Porter – The French Conjuror
- Jean Racine – Phèdre
- Edward Ravenscroft
- *King Edgar and Alfreda
- *Scaramouch a Philosopher, Harlequin a Schoolboy, Bravo a Merchant and Magician
- Thomas Rymer – Edgar, or the English Monarch
- Pedro Calderon de la Barca
- *Amar después de la muerte o El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra
- *''Parte I de autos sacramentales, alegóricos e historiales''
Poetry
- Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery – ''On the Death of Abraham Cowley''
Births
- August 23 – Marie Anne Doublet, French scholar, writer and salonnière
- August 25 – Jean-Joseph Languet de Gergy, French theologian
- Unknown date – Elizabeth, Lady Wardlaw, English ballad writer
- Probable date – George Farquhar, Irish-born dramatist
Deaths
- February 21 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher
- May 24 – Anders Bording, Danish poet and journalist
- June 18 – Johann Franck, German poet, hymnist and politician
- June 24 – Dudley North, English poet, writer and politician
- July 9 – Angelus Silesius, German poet and mystic
- September 5 – Henry Oldenburg, German-born theologian and natural philosopher
- September 11 – James Harrington, English political theorist
- October 14 – Francis Glisson, English medical writer and physician
- December 24 – Jacques de Coras, French poet