1774 in poetry

Events

• During this year's harvest, 15-year-old Scottish farm labourer Robert Burns is assisted by his contemporary Nelly Kilpatrick who inspires his first attempt at poetry, "O, Once I Lov'd A Bonnie Lass".
• Jacques Delille elected to membership in the Académie Française in large part due to his verse translation of the Georgics in 1769

Works published

[[American poetry|Colonial America]]

• Hugh Henry Brackenridge, "A Poem on Divine Revelation"
• Samuel Occom, editor, A Choice Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs
• John Trumbull, "An Elegy on the Times"

[[English poetry|United Kingdom]]

• James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius, Book 2 (Book 1 1771, both books published together with other verse in 1775)
• William Dunkin, The Poetical Works of the Late William Dunkin, posthumously published; Volume 1 includes Latin and Ancient Greek poetry with English translations
• Oliver Goldsmith, Retaliation; a poem, published April 19
• Richard Graves, The Progress of Gallantry, published anonymously
• Thomas Gray, The Poems of Mr Gray (posthumous)
• William Mason, An Heroic Postscript to the Public, published anonymously
• Hannah More, The Inflexible Captive: A tragedy
• Samuel Jackson Pratt (as "Courtney Melmoth"), The Tears of A Genius, occasioned by the Death of Dr Goldsmith
• Henry James Pye, Farringdon Hill
• Mary Scott, The Female Advocate, a response to The Feminead 1754 by John Duncombe
• Thomas Warton the Younger, History of English Poetry, in three volumes, published from 1774-1781
• William Whitehead, Plays and Poems by William Whitehead, Esq. Poet Laureat (see also Poems 1788)

Other

• Charles Batteux, Principes de la littérature, including Cours de belles lettres of 1765; criticism; France

Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• June 3 – Robert Tannahill (died 1810), Scottish "Weaver Poet"
• August 12 – Robert Southey (died 1843), English poet
• November 4 – Robert Allan (died 1841), Scottish "Weaver Poet"

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• Early – Lady Dorothea Du Bois (born 1728), Irish poet and writer
• c. January 29–February 5 – James Love, pseudonym of James Dance (born 1721), English poet, playwright and actor
• May 11 – Charles Jenner (born 1736), English poet, novelist and Anglican cleric
• August 14 – Johann Jakob Reiske (born 1716), German scholar and physician
• October 16 – Oliver Goldsmith (born 1728), English writer and poet
• October 17 – Robert Fergusson (born 1750), Scottish poet
• November 25 – Henry Baker (born 1698), English naturalist, poet, sign-language developer
• December 20 – Paul Whitehead (born 1710), English satiric poet
• Khwaja Muhammad Zaman (born 1713), Indian, Sindhi-language poet

Notes

References

1. France, Peter. (1995). "The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French". Oxford University Press.
2. (1986). "Annals of American Literature 1602-1983". Oxford University Press.
3. (2004). "The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature". Oxford University Press.
4. Grun, Bernard. (1991). "The Timetables of History".
5. 978-81-7201-798-9. Retrieved via Google Books 2008-12-23.