1794 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1794.

Events

March 12 – The rebuilt Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London, designed by Henry Holland, opens to the public.
May 12 – William Godwin's novel Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams is published in London as an attack on tyrannical government, although its controversial original preface and ending are suppressed. The work also contains elements of detective fiction.
May 14 – Mary Wollstonecraft's daughter by American speculator Gilbert Imlay, Fanny, is born in Le Havre.
June – English poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey first meet, in Oxford while Coleridge is en route for a tour of Wales. They meet again in Bristol in August. After Robespierre's execution in July, they collaborate on the "historic drama" The Fall of Robespierre, published in October. Southey's first published poetry appears and he also writes the radical play Wat Tyler this summer.
August – Ludwig Tieck graduates from the University of Göttingen and begins a literary career.
Autumn–December – English playwright Thomas Holcroft is indicted for treason as a member of the Society for Constitutional Information and held in Newgate Prison, London, but released without charge.
November 14 – The first recorded meeting of the Franklin Literary Society is held at Canonsburg Academy in Pennsylvania.

Edward Bancroft – Experimental Researches Concerning the Philosophy of Permanent Colours
Erasmus Darwin – Zoonomia; or the Laws of Organic Life
Elizabeth Dawbarn – Dialogue between Clara Neville and Louisa Mills, on Loyalty
Edward Gibbon – Memoirs of My Life and Writings
Deen Mahomed – The Travels of Dean Mahomet
Thomas James Mathias – The Pursuits of Literature
Thomas Paine – The Age of Reason
William Paley – View of the Evidences of Christianity
Uvedale Price – Essay on the Picturesque, As Compared with the Sublime and The Beautiful
Patrick Russell – Natural History of Aleppo
Walter Whiter – ''Specimen of a Commentary on ''

Uncertain date