1668 in poetry

Events

• John Dryden becomes poet laureate of England on the death of Sir William Davenant. Dryden held the office until 1688 when, after James II of England was deposed, the poet refused to swear allegiance to the new monarchs and was replaced by Thomas Shadwell. Dryden was the only laureate not to die in office until Andrew Motion in 1999. Shadwell held the office until his death in 1692.)

  Works published

• Sir John Denham, Poems and Translations: With The Sophy, the first collected edition of Denham's poems
• John Dryden, Defence of an Essay of Dramatic Poesy, criticism
• Richard Flecknoe, Sir William D'Avenant's Voyage to the Other World: with his Adventures in the Poets Elizium: A poetical fiction, published anonymously
• Sir Robert Howard, The Duell of the Staggs
• Philip Pain, Daily Meditations, English Colonial American
• Georg Stiernhielm – Musæ Suethizantes

  Births

• January 5 ' - Alicia D'Anvers, born Alicia Clarke, English
• February 19 - John Reynolds, English Presbyterian minister and religious writer
• December 20 ' - Sarah Fyge Egerton, English poet

  Deaths

• February 2 - Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra, Spanish Baroque painter, sculptor and poet
• February 23 - Owen Feltham, English essayist and poet
• April 7 - Sir William Davenant, English playwright and poet
• August 9 - Jakob Balde, German scholar, poet and teacher
• Arnauld de Oihenart, Basque historian and poet