1617 in poetry

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

Events

 * James I of England creates Poet Laureate position for Ben Jonson

Great Britain

 * John Davies, published anonymously, Wits Bedlam, epigrams
 * Leonard Digges, The Rape of Proserpine, translated from the Latin of Claudius Claudianus' De raptu Proserpinae
 * William Drummond, published anonymously, Forth Feasting, written on the occasion of James I's visit to Scotland

Other

 * Martin Opitz Aristarchus, German poet and writer in Latin, in this book championing the purity of the German language
 * Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant, A la solitude, ("Solitude"), an ode (untranslated text in French) France

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * April 4 – Sir George Wharton, 1st Baronet (died 1681), English Cavalier soldier and astrologer, also known as a poet
 * September 25 (bapt.) – Henry Birkhead (died 1696), English academic, lawyer, Latin poet and founder of the Oxford Chair of Poetry
 * December 9 – Richard Lovelace (died 1657), English Cavalier poet
 * Peter Folger (died 1690), English-born poet, Nantucket settler, and maternal grandfather of Benjamin Franklin
 * Pierre Petit (died 1687), French scholar, physician, poet and Latin writer

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * August 8 – Tarquinia Molza (born 1542), Italian singer and poet
 * Giovanni Botero (born 1544), Italian political theorist, priest, poet, and diplomat
 * Keshavdas (born 1555), Sanskrit scholar and Hindi poet
 * Riccardo Luisini (born 1535), Italian, Latin-language poet
 * Eochaidh Ó hÉoghusa (born 1567), Irish
 * François du Souhait (born between 1570 and 1580), French language translator, novelist, poet, satirist, and moral philosopher