1642 in poetry

• May–June – English Cavalier poet Richard Lovelace is incarcerated in the Gatehouse Prison, Westminster for defying Parliament, during which time he perhaps writes To Althea, from Prison^[1]

• John Denham, Cooper's Hill, the first example in English of a poem devoted to local description, in this case the Thames scenery around the author's home at Egham in Surrey; the poem was rewritten many times and later received high praise from Samuel Johnson, although Denham's reputation later ebbed
• Arthur Johnston, died 1641, Opera, Scottish poet writing in Latin
• Sir Francis Kynaston, Leoline and Sydanis^[2]
• Henry More, Psychodia Platonica; or, A Platonicall Song of the Soul^[2]
• Alexander Ross, Mel Heliconium; or, Poeticall Honey^[2]
• John Taylor, Mad Fashions, Odd Fashions, All Out of Fashions; or, The Emblems of those Distracted Times^[2]

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

• Abdul-Qādir Bēdil (died 1720), Persian poet and Sufi
• Yusuf Nabi (died 1712), Turkish diwan poet
• Ihara Saikaku (died 1693), Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose, ukiyo-zōshi
• Thomas Shadwell (died 1692), English poet and playwright appointed poet laureate in 1689
• Edward Taylor (died 1729), Colonial American poet, physician and clergyman^[3]
• December 30 – Vincenzo da Filicaja (died 1707), Italian poet

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

• June 1 – Sir John Suckling (born 1609), English
• John Chalkhill (born 1594), English
• Francis Kynaston (born 1587), English courtier, poet and translator
• James Mabbe (born 1572), English scholar, poet and translator

• Poetry
• 17th century in poetry
• 17th century in literature
• Cavalier poets in England, who supported the monarch against the puritans in the English Civil War