1744 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1744.
Events
- February 6 – Samuel Foote makes his debut as an actor as Othello at the Haymarket Theatre, London, England.
- February 15 – Spranger Barry makes his debut as an actor at the Theatre Royal, Dublin.
- April – The Female Spectator is founded by Eliza Haywood in England, the first periodical written for women by a woman.
- April 14 – The Physico-Historical Society is formed in Dublin for the preservation of 'manuscripts, rare printed books, and natural curiosities relating to Ireland'.
- May 29 – Alexander Pope is received into the Catholic Church, a day before his death.
New books
Fiction
- Mary Collyer – Felicia to Charlotte
- Sarah Fielding – The Adventures of David Simple
- Eliza Haywood – The Fortunate Foundlings
- Edward Moore – Fables for the Female Sex
- William Oldys – The Harleian Miscellany
- Joseph Warton – ''The Enthusiast''
Children
Drama
- Robert Dodsley – A Select Collection of Old Plays
- William Havard – Regulus
- James Miller
- *Joseph and his Brethren
- *Mahomet the Imposter
- James Ralph – The Astrologer
- Antonio de Zamora – ''No hay deuda que no se pague y convidado de piedra''
Poetry
- Mark Akenside
- *The Pleasures of the Imagination
- *An Epistle to Curio
- Jane Brereton – Poems
- Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo – ''Obras póstumas poéticas, con la Burromaquia''
Non-fiction
- John Armstrong – The Art of Preserving Health
- George Berkeley – Siris
- Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix – Histoire et Description Generale de la Nouvelle France
- Émilie de Breteuil, marquise du Chatelet -Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu
- Colley Cibber – Another Occasional Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope
- David Garrick – An Essay on Acting
- Samuel Johnson
- *Life of Mr Richard Savage
- *An Account of the Life of John Philip Barretier
- Francis Moore – A Voyage to Georgia
- Alexander Pope – Essay on Man, volume 4: "Epistle: Of the Nature and State of Man, with Respect to" "Happiness".
- John Ranby – The Method of Treating Gunshot Wounds
- Emanuel Swedenborg – The Animal Kingdom
- Jonathan Swift – ''Three Sermons''
Births
- January 29 – Catharina Charlotta Swedenmarck, Swedish writer
- February 10 – William Mitford, English historian
- April 11 – Elizabeth Bonhôte, English novelist, essayist and poet
- August 25 – Johann Gottfried Herder, German poet
- December – Elsa Fougt, Swedish editor and publisher
Deaths
- January 28 – Thomas Innes, Scottish historian
- January 23 – Thomas Griffith, Irish actor and theatre manager
- March 31 – Antiochus Kantemir, Russian diplomat and writer
- April 27 – James Miller, English playwright, poet and satirist
- May 30 – Alexander Pope, English poet and satirist
- September 18 – Lewis Theobald, English literary historian