1604 in poetry

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

Great Britain

 * Sir William Alexander:
 * Aurora
 * A Paraenesis to the Prince (to Henry, Prince of Wales)
 * Thomas Bateson, Cantus (the first English madrigals)
 * Nicholas Breton, The Passionate Shepheard; or, The Shepheardes Love, written under the pen name "Bonerto"
 * Thomas Churchyard, Churchyards Good Will, on the death of John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury
 * John Cooke, Epigrames
 * Thomas Dekker, Newes from Graves-end: Sent to Nobody, published anonymously
 * Michael Drayton:
 * Moyses in a Map of his Miracles
 * The Owle
 * A Paean Triumphall
 * Samuel Rowlands, Looke to it: for, Ile Stabbe Ye
 * Anthony Skoloker, Daiphantus, or the Passions of Love

Other

 * Bernardo de Balbuena, La Grandeza Mexicana ("Mexico's Grandeur"), Spanish poet and churchman at this time in Mexico
 * Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye, Discours pour servir de Préface sur le Sujet de la Satyre ("Discourse Serving as a Preface on the Subject of Satire") published from this year through 1605

Births

 * January 4 – Jakob Balde (died 1668), German scholar, poet and teacher
 * July 8 – Heinrich Albert (died 1651), German composer and poet
 * August 4 – François Hédelin (died 1676), French abbé of Aubignac and Meymac, poet and playwright
 * October 16 – Assoucy (died 1677), French musician and burlesque poet
 * November 23 (bapt.) – Jasper Mayne (died 1672), English clergyman, translator, minor poet and dramatist
 * Also:
 * Charles Cotin (died 1681), French abbé, philosopher and poet
 * Girolamo Graziani (died 1675), Italian poet
 * Philippe Habert (died 1637), French poet
 * Cheng Zhengkui (died 1670), Chinese landscape painter and poet

Deaths

 * April 1 – Thomas Churchyard (born c. 1520), English poet and author
 * June 24 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (born 1550), English courtier, playwright, poet, sportsman, patron of numerous writers, and sponsor of at least two acting companies
 * October 8 – Janus Dousa (born 1545), Dutch statesman, historian, poet and philologist
 * November – Thomas Storer (born c. 1571), English poet
 * Also – Ma Xianglan (born 1548), Chinese artist, playwright, poet and calligrapher; a woman