This article gives a chronological list of years in poetry. These pages supplement the List of years in literature pages with a focus on events in the history of poetry.
Before 1000 BC – Kesh Temple Hymn – Enheduanna, The Exaltation of Inanna and the Temple Hymns – Earliest possible date for composition of the "family poems" in the Rig Veda 11th century BC – earliest works in the Classic of Poetry
First millennium BC
7th century BC in poetry 6th century BC in poetry 5th century BC in poetry 4th century BC in poetry 3rd century BC in poetry 2nd century BC in poetry 1st century BC in poetry
First millennium AD
1st century in poetry 2nd century in poetry 3rd century in poetry 4th century in poetry 5th century in poetry 451 – Jacob of Serugh born (died November 521), writing in Syriac 455 – Blossius Aemilius Dracontius born about this year (died c. 505) of Carthage, a Latin poet 474 – Magnus Felix Ennodius (died July 17, 521), Bishop of Pavia and poet, writing in Latin 6th century in poetry 500 – Procopius born about this year (died 565) 505 – Blossius Aemilius Dracontius born about this year (born 455) of Carthage, a Latin poet 521 – Jacob of Serugh (451–521), writing in Syriac 521 – Magnus Felix Ennodius (474 – July 17, 521), Bishop of Pavia and poet, writing in Latin 530 – Venantius Fortunatus born (c. 530 – c. 600), Latin poet and hymnodist from Northern Italy 534 – Taliesin born about this year (died c. 599), the earliest identified Welsh poet 536 – Agathias born about this year (died 582/594); Ancient Greek poet and historian 539 – Chilperic I born (died September 584) Frankish king of Neustria and a Latin poet 543 – Saint Columbanus (died 615), Hiberno-Latin poet and writer 544 – Arator declaims his poem De Actibus Apostolorum in the Church of San Pietro-in-Vinculi 554 – 'Abid ibn al-Abris died about this year; Arabic poet 560 – Labīd born this year (died 661); Arabic poet 560 – Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya died about this year; Jewish poet writing in Arabic 565 – Procopius died (born about 500) 570 – Maymun Ibn Qays Al-a'sha born (died 625) 580 – Antara Ibn Shaddad died about this year; Arabic poet 584 – Amr ibn Kulthum died about this year; Arabic poet 584 – Chilperic I died (born 539) Frankish king of Neustria and a Latin poet 599 – Taliesin died about this year (born c. 534), the earliest identified Welsh poet 7th century in poetry 600 – Venantius Fortunatus born (c. 530 – c. 600), Latin poet and hymnodist from Northern Italy 615 – Saint Columbanus (born 543), Hiberno-Latin poet and writer 625 – Maymun Ibn Qays Al-a'sha born (died 625) 661 – Labīd died this year (born 560); Arabic poet 8th century in poetry 9th century in poetry 800s 810s 820s 830s 840s 850s 860s 870s 880s 890s
10th century
900s 910s 920s 930s 940s 950s 960s 970s 980s 990s
11th century
1000s 1010s 1020s 1030s 1040s 1050s 1060s 1070s 1080s 1090s
12th century
1100s 1110s 1120s 1130s 1140s 1150s 1160s 1170s 1180s 1190s
13th century
1200s 1200 in poetry 1201 in poetry 1202 in poetry 1203 in poetry 1204 in poetry 1205 in poetry 1206 in poetry 1207 in poetry 1208 in poetry – Estimated date of the Gesta Danorum 1209 in poetry
1210s
1210 in poetry – Birth of Saadi, Persian poet 1211 in poetry 1212 in poetry 1213 in poetry 1214 in poetry 1215 in poetry 1216 in poetry 1217 in poetry 1218 in poetry 1219 in poetry
1220s
1220 in poetry 1221 in poetry 1222 in poetry 1223 in poetry 1224 in poetry 1225 in poetry 1226 in poetry 1227 in poetry 1228 in poetry 1229 in poetry
1230s 1230 in poetry 1231 in poetry 1232 in poetry 1233 in poetry 1234 in poetry 1235 in poetry 1236 in poetry 1237 in poetry 1238 in poetry 1239 in poetry
1240s 1240 in poetry 1241 in poetry 1242 in poetry 1243 in poetry 1244 in poetry 1245 in poetry 1246 in poetry 1247 in poetry 1248 in poetry 1249 in poetry
1250s 1250 in poetry 1251 in poetry 1252 in poetry 1253 in poetry 1254 in poetry 1255 in poetry 1256 in poetry 1257 in poetry 1258 in poetry 1259 in poetry
1260s 1260 in poetry 1261 in poetry 1262 in poetry 1263 in poetry 1264 in poetry 1265 in poetry 1266 in poetry 1267 in poetry 1268 in poetry 1269 in poetry
1270s 1270 in poetry 1271 in poetry 1272 in poetry 1273 in poetry 1274 in poetry 1275 in poetry 1276 in poetry 1277 in poetry 1278 in poetry 1279 in poetry
1280s 1280 in poetry 1281 in poetry 1282 in poetry 1283 in poetry 1284 in poetry 1285 in poetry 1286 in poetry 1287 in poetry – The Jewang Un'gi by Yi Seung-hyu 1288 in poetry 1289 in poetry
1290s 1290 in poetry 1291 in poetry – Death of Saadi 1292 in poetry 1293 in poetry 1294 in poetry 1295 in poetry 1296 in poetry 1297 in poetry 1298 in poetry 1299 in poetry
14th century
1300s 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s 1360s 1370s 1380s 1390s
15th century
1400s 1410s 1420s 1430s 1440s 1450s 1460s 1470s 1480s 1490s
16th century
1500s 1500 in poetry – La Araucana - Alonso de Ercilla 1501 in poetry – Judita - Marko Marulić 1502 in poetry 1503 in poetry 1504 in poetry 1505 in poetry 1506 in poetry 1507 in poetry 1508 in poetry 1509 in poetry
1510s 1510 in poetry 1511 in poetry 1512 in poetry 1513 in poetry 1514 in poetry 1515 in poetry 1516 in poetry 1517 in poetry 1518 in poetry 1519 in poetry
1520s 1520 in poetry 1521 in poetry 1522 in poetry 1523 in poetry 1524 in poetry – Birth of Pierre de Ronsard 1525 in poetry 1526 in poetry 1527 in poetry 1528 in poetry 1529 in poetry
1530s 1530 in poetry 1531 in poetry 1532 in poetry 1533 in poetry 1534 in poetry 1535 in poetry 1536 in poetry 1537 in poetry 1538 in poetry 1539 in poetry
1540s 1540 in poetry 1541 in poetry 1542 in poetry 1543 in poetry 1544 in poetry 1545 in poetry 1546 in poetry 1547 in poetry 1548 in poetry 1549 in poetry
1550s 1550 in poetry – Charles Bansley, The Pride of Women; Robert Crowley, One and Thyrtye Epigrammes; John Heywood, An Hundred Epigrammes; William Langland (attributed), Piers Plowman, the B textCox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, 1551 in poetry – Robert Crowley, published anonymously, Philargyrie of Greate Britayne; or, The Fable of the Great Giant 1552 in poetry – Birth of Edmund Spenser, Walter Raleigh; Works: Thomas Churchyard, A Myrrour for Man 1553 in poetry – Anonymous, Pierce the Ploughmans Crede; Gavin Douglas, translator, Aeneid, The Palis of Honoure, second, revised edition (publication year conjectural) 1554 in poetry – Miles Huggarde, The Assault of the Sacrament of the Altar; Henry Howard, The Fourth Boke of Virgill, Intreating of the Love Betweene Aeneas & Dido; Sir David Lindsay, The Monarche 1555 in poetry 1556 in poetry 1557 in poetry 1558 in poetry 1559 in poetry
1560s 1560 in poetry 1561 in poetry 1562 in poetry 1563 in poetry 1564 in poetry – Birth of William Shakespeare English poet, playwright, and genius, Christopher Marlowe English poet 1565 in poetry 1566 in poetry 1567 in poetry 1568 in poetry 1569 in poetry
1570s 1570 in poetry 1571 in poetry 1572 in poetry – Luís Vaz de Comões – Os Lusíadas; Birth of John Donne, important English poet, essayist, author, preacher; - Birth of Ben Jonson, important English poet, playwright, actor 1573 in poetry 1574 in poetry 1575 in poetry 1576 in poetry 1577 in poetry – Illustrated manuscript of the Hamzanama 1578 in poetry 1579 in poetry
1580s 1580 in poetry 1581 in poetry – Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso; Birth of Thomas Overbury English poet (d.1613) 1582 in poetry 1583 in poetry 1584 in poetry 1585 in poetry – Death of Pierre de Ronsard 1586 in poetry – Birth of John Ford English poet and playwright (d. c. 1640) 1587 in poetry 1588 in poetry 1589 in poetry
1590s 1590 in poetry 1591 in poetry 1592 in poetry 1593 in poetry – Birth of George Herbert Welsh poet; - Death of Christopher Marlowe English poet 1594 in poetry 1595 in poetry 1596 in poetry 1597 in poetry 1598 in poetry 1599 in poetry – Death of Edmund Spenser English poet
17th century
1600s 1600 in poetry 1601 in poetry 1602 in poetry 1603 in poetry 1604 in poetry 1605 in poetry 1606 in poetry 1607 in poetry 1608 in poetry – Birth of John Milton, important English poet 1609 in poetry – Publication of William Shakespeare's Sonnets
1610s 1610 in poetry 1611 in poetry 1612 in poetry 1613 in poetry – Death of Thomas Overbury English poet 1614 in poetry – A Wife, poem by Sir Thomas Overbury published posthumously 1615 in poetry 1616 in poetry – Death of William Shakespeare English poet, playwright and genius 1617 in poetry 1618 in poetry – Death of Sir Walter Raleigh 1619 in poetry
1620s 1620 in poetry 1621 in poetry 1622 in poetry 1623 in poetry 1624 in poetry 1625 in poetry 1626 in poetry 1627 in poetry 1628 in poetry 1629 in poetry
1630s 1630 in poetry 1631 in poetry – Death of John Donne, important English poet, essayist, author, preacher; - Birth of John Dryden influential English poet, literary critic, translator and playwright; Birth of Michael Wigglesworth (died 1705), English poet, colonist in America called "the most popular of early New England poets"Trent, William P. and Wells, Benjamin W., Colonial Prose and Poetry: The Beginnings of Americanism 1650-1710, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1903 edition, page 41 1632 in poetry 1633 in poetry 1634 in poetry 1635 in poetry 1636 in poetry 1637 in poetry – Death of Ben Jonson, important English poet, playwright, actor 1638 in poetry 1639 in poetry
1640s
1640 in poetry – Biag ni Lam-ang first transcribed by Pedro Bucaneg 1641 in poetry 1642 in poetry 1643 in poetry 1644 in poetry – Birth of Matsuo Bashō the haiku poet 1645 in poetry 1646 in poetry 1647 in poetry – The Siege of Sziget by Miklós Zrínyi; April 1 — birth of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (died 1680) 1648 in poetry 1649 in poetry
1650s
1650 in poetry 1651 in poetry 1652 in poetry 1653 in poetry 1654 in poetry 1655 in poetry 1656 in poetry 1657 in poetry 1658 in poetry 1659 in poetry
1660s
1660 in poetry 1661 in poetry 1662 in poetry 1663 in poetry 1664 in poetry – Anne Bradstreet, Meditations Divine and MoralDavis, Cynthia J., and Kathryn West, Women Writers in the United States: A Timeline of Literary, Cultural, and Social History, Oxford University Press US, 1996 , retrieved via Google Books on February 7, 2009 1665 in poetry 1666 in poetry 1667 in poetry – Birth of Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet 1668 in poetry 1669 in poetry
1670s
1670 in poetry 1671 in poetry 1672 in poetry – Birth of Joseph Addison, English essayist and poet 1673 in poetry 1674 in poetry – Death of John Milton, important English poet 1675 in poetry 1676 in poetry 1677 in poetry 1678 in poetry 1679 in poetry
1680s
1680 in poetry 1681 in poetry 1682 in poetry 1683 in poetry 1684 in poetry 1685 in poetry 1686 in poetry 1687 in poetry 1688 in poetry – Birth of Alexander Pope, English poet 1689 in poetry – Oku no Hosomichi by Matsuo Bashō
1690s
1690 in poetry 1691 in poetry 1692 in poetry 1693 in poetry 1694 in poetry – Death of the haiku poet Matsuo Bashō 1695 in poetry 1696 in poetry 1697 in poetry – Birth of Richard Savage, English poet 1698 in poetry 1699 in poetry
18th century
1700s 1700 in poetry – Hikayat Hang Tuah; Death of John Dryden, influential English poet, literary critic, translator and playwright; - Birth of James Thomson, English poet 1701 in poetry 1702 in poetry 1703 in poetry 1704 in poetry 1705 in poetry – Death of Michael Wigglesworth (born 1631), English poet, colonist in America called "the most popular of early New England poets" 1706 in poetry