1608 in poetry

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

Events

 * Scottish poet Arthur Johnston goes to Italy to study medicine at Padua.

Works

 * Henry Peacham the younger, The More the Merrier: Containing: threescore and odde haad-lesse epigrams
 * Samuel Rowlands, Humors Looking Glasse
 * Robert Tofte, Ariosto's Satyres (authorship is claimed by Tofte in The Blazon of Jealousie (1615) although Gervase Markham's name is on the title page)

Births

 * June – Sir Richard Fanshawe (died 1666), English diplomat, translator, and poet
 * December 8 – Vendela Skytte (died 1629), Swedish poet and lady of letters
 * December 9 – John Milton (died 1674), English poet and writer
 * December 20 (bapt.) – Sir Aston Cokayne (died 1684), English poet and playwright
 * Also:
 * Menahem Lonzano (born unknown), Palestinian Masoretic and midrashic scholar, lexicographer and poet
 * Vaman Pandit (died 1695), Marathi scholar and poet of India
 * Samarth Ramdas (died 1681), Marathi saint and religious poet
 * Tukaram (died 1650), Sant (Saint) and spiritual poet during a Bhakti movement
 * Chen Zilong (died 1647), Chinese poet of the Tang School

Deaths

 * February 16 – Nicolas Rapin (born 1535), French magistrate, royal officer, translator, poet and satirist
 * February 26 – Sir Thomas Craig (born c. 1538), Scottish jurist and poet
 * April 19 – Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset (born 1536), English statesman and poet
 * July 26 – Pablo de Céspedes (born 1538), Spanish painter, poet and architect
 * September – Mary Shakespeare, née Arden (born c. 1537), mother of English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare
 * October 26 – Philipp Nicolai (born 1556), German poet and composer
 * Also:
 * George Bannatyne (born 1545), Scottish collector of poems
 * Henry Lok (born c. 1553), English
 * Nicolas de Montreux (born c 1561), French nobleman, novelist, poet, translator and dramatist
 * Jean Vauquelin de la Fresnaye (born 1536), French
 * Andrzej Zbylitowski (born 1565), Polish