1540 in poetry

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

Events

 * Klemens Janicki is appointed poeta laureatus by the Pope
 * Lazare de Baif travels with Pierre de Ronsard (both eventually French poets) to Alsace, where they meet many northern humanists.

Works published

 * Sir Thomas More, Lady Fortune, publication year uncertain
 * Girolamo Schola, Capituli di M. Girolamo Schola sopra varii suggetti, publication year uncertain, Italian poems on various subjects, including hats, gypsies, geese, horses, mustard caps and sausages
 * Tontada Siddhesavara, Shatsthala Jnanamrita

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 26 – Florent Chrestien (died 1596), French satirist and Latin poet
 * June 11 – Barnabe Googe (died 1594), English
 * Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, born about this year (died 1614), French soldier, historian, biographer and poet
 * Francisco de Terrazas, born about this year (died c. 1600), Mexican
 * Rhys Cain (died 1614), Welsh language poet
 * Frei Agostinho da Cruz (died 1619), brother of Diogo Bernardes, Portuguese
 * Mathias Holtzwart born about this year (died sometime after 1589), German
 * Jacob Regnart born sometime from this year to 1545 (died 1599), Flemish composer

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * October 5 – Helius Eobanus Hessus (born 1488, German, Latin poet