1585 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1585.

Events

 * February 2 – Hamnet and Judith, twin children of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne, are baptised at Stratford-upon-Avon.
 * March 3 – The Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, designed by Andrea Palladio, and completed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, opens with a production of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex), using trompe-l'œil scenery in one-point perspective.
 * December 13 – The blind poet, playwright and actor Luigi Groto dies in Venice, having just come from the theatre, where he has played the role of the blind Oedipus Rex.

Prose

 * John Calvin – The Commentaries... upon the Actes of the Apostles, Faithfully translated out of Latine into English for the great profite of our countrie-men, by Christopher Fetherstone, student in divinitie
 * Miguel de Cervantes – La Galatea

Drama

 * Nicolas de Montreux – Athlette
 * Richard Tarlton (attributed) – The Seven Deadly Sins

Poetry
See 1585 in poetry
 * Thomas Watson – Amyntas (pastoral epic in Latin)

Births

 * January 6 – Claude Favre de Vaugelas, French grammarian (died 1650)
 * January 31 – Daniel Schwenter, German Orientalist, polymath, poet and librarian (died 1636)
 * March 16 – Gerbrand Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright (died 1618)
 * June 24 – Johannes Lippius, German Protestant theologian, philosopher, and theorist of music (died 1612)
 * October 11 – Johann Heermann, German poet (died 1647)
 * December 4 – John Cotton, English-born American theologian and minister (died 1652)
 * December 13 – William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (died 1649)

Uncertain dates
 * Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland, née Elizabeth Tanfield, English poet, translator and dramatist (died 1639)
 * Diego Jiménez de Enciso, Spanish dramatist (died 1634)

Deaths

 * January – Anthony Gilby, English Puritan and Bible translator (born c. 1510)
 * February 6 – Edmund Plowden, English lawyer and theorist (born 1518)
 * February 13 – Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish Jesuit Biblical commentator (born 1515)
 * March 10 – Rembert Dodoens, Flemish botanist (born 1517)
 * June 4 – Muretus, French humanist poet and writer in Latin (born 1526)
 * June 20 – Christian Kruik van Adrichem, Dutch Catholic theologian (born 1533)
 * July 30 – Christian Schesaus, German humanist poet (born 1535)
 * September 1 – Alexander Arbuthnot, Scottish printer (year of birth unknown)
 * September 18 – Molanus, Flemish theologian of the Counter Reformation (born 1533)
 * December 8 – Piero Vettori, Italian humanist philologist and writer (born 1499)
 * December 27 – Pierre de Ronsard, French poet (born 1524)