1652 in literature

Events

• March/April – John Milton loses the last of his eyesight during the year.
• unknown date – A translation by Saiyid Aidarus of the Arabic religious poem "Hamziya" is the earliest known written example of Swahili literature.

  New books

Prose

• Anonymous – Eliza's Babes, or the Virgin's Offering
• Elias Ashmole – Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum.
• Nicholas Culpepper – The English Physitian, or, An astrologo-physical discourse on the vulgar herbs of this nation, being a compleat method of physick, whereby a man may preserve his body in health, or cure himself, being sick
• Owen Feltham – Brief Character of the Low Countries
• Antonio Rocco – L'Alcibiade, fanciullo a scola
• Thomas Urquhart – The Jewel : a vindication of the honor of Scotland
• Henry Vaughan – Mount of Olives
• Thomas Vaughan – The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity of R:C:
• Gerrard Winstanley – The Law of Freedom

  Drama

• Anonymous – The Bastard
• Richard Brome – A Jovial Crew
• Francis Goldsmith – Sophompaneas, or Joseph
• Thomas Middleton – The Widow
• John Tatham – The Scots Figgaries
• Pedro Calderon de la Barca – La fiera, el rayo y la piedra
• Agustín Moreto
• *San Franco de Siena
• *El parecido en la corte
• Luis Velez de Guevara – Reinar después de morir
• François le Métel de Boisrobert – Les Trois Orontes

  Poetry

• Edward Benlowes – Theophilia or Love's Sacrifice
• Richard Crashaw – Deo Nostro Te Decet Hymnus
• Antonio Enríquez Gómez – Sansón Nazareno
• Francisco de Trillo y Figueroa – Poesías varias, heroicas, satíricas y amorosas

  Births

• March 2 – Thomas Otway, English dramatist
• April 13 – Thomas Ward, English Catholic writer
• May – Jane Barker, English poet and dramatist
• Unknown date – Nahum Tate, Irish poet and dramatist

  Deaths

• February 28 – Arcangela Tarabotti, Venetian nun and feminist writer
• April 12 – John Vicars, English contemporary biographer, poet and polemicist of the English Civil War
• May – Claude de L'Estoile, French playwright and poet
• May 5 – Mary, English wife of John Milton
• June 25 – Abraham von Franckenberg, German mystic, poet, and hymn writer
• August 14 – Abraham Elzevir, Dutch printer, proprietor of the House of Elzevir
• October – Arthur Wilson, English playwright, historian, and poet
• October 8 – John Greaves, English antiquary
• October 20 – Antonio Coello, Spanish dramatist and poet
• November 29 – Francesco Angeloni, Italian historian, novelist, dramatist and collector
• December 2 – Christopher Elderfield, English theologian
• December 23 – John Cotton, English-born American theologian and minister