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

• English poet John Milton loses the last of his eyesight during the year; his first wife Mary (née Powell, 1625) dies on May 5.
• A translation by Saiyid Aidarus of the Arabic religious poem "Hamziya" is the earliest known written example of Swahili literature.^[1]

• Edward Benlowes, Theophila; or, Loves Sacrifice, including some Latin poetry and translations^[2]
• Richard Crashaw, Carmen Deo Nostro, Te Decet Hymnus: Sacred poems, containing poems from Steps to the Temple 1646, and new poetry^[2]
• Sir Richard Fanshawe, Selected Parts of Horace, Prince of Lyricks, published anonymously; Latin and English verse on facing pages^[2]
• John Hall, translator, Of the Height of Eloquence by Longinus (a work now known in English as On the Sublime)^[3]
• John Phillips published a Latin reply to the anonymous attack on John Milton entitled Pro Rege et populo anglicano

• Anonymous, A Hermeticall Banquet, published in 1651, according to The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, although the book states "1652"; some attribute the book to James Howell, others to Thomas Vaughan^[2]

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• May - Jane Barker (died 1732), English poet and playwright
• Hanabusa Itchō (died 1724), Japanese painter, calligrapher, and haiku poet
• Nahum Tate (died 1715), Irish poet
• Probable date - Vemana (died 1730), Telugu poet

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• April 12 - John Vicars (born 1582), English contemporary biographer, poet and polemicist of the English Civil War
• May - Claude de L'Estoile (born 1602), French playwright and poet
• June 25 - Abraham von Franckenberg (born 1593), German mystic, author, poet and hymn-writer
• October 20 - Antonio Coello (born 1611), Spanish dramatist and poet
• November 21 - Jan Brożek (born 1585), Polish mathematician, astronomer, physician, poet, writer, musician and rector
• Tadhg mac Dáire Mac Bruaideadha (born 1570), Irish Gaelic poet and historian, killed
• Wang Duo (born 1592), Chinese calligrapher, painter and poet
• Approximate date - Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig (born 1580), Irish Gaelic scholar and poet, killed

• Poetry
• 17th century in poetry
• 17th century in literature