1645 in literature

Events

• December – William Cavendish, later Duke of Newcastle, marries Margaret Lucas, whom he has met while in exile in France.
• unknown dates
• *With the London theatres closed by the Puritan regime during the English Civil War, closet drama grows in prominence. Henry Burkhead's Cola's Fury, or Lirenda's Misery is written in this genre and the sisters Jane Cavendish and Elizabeth Egerton probably complete their The Concealed Fansyes while besieged.

  New books

Prose

• Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury
• *De Causis Errorum
• *De Religione Laici
• John Milton
• *Colasterion
• *Tetrachordon
• Elizabeth Richardson, Baroness Cramond – A Lady's Legacy to her Daughters
• Alexander Ross
• *Medicus Medicatus
• *The Philosophical Touchstone
• Francisco Manuel de Melo – Guerra de Cataluña
• Horacio Carochi – Arte de la lengua mexicana
• Daniello Bartoli – L'huomo di lettere
• Hermann Busenbaum – Medulla theologiae moralis

  Drama

• Luis Quiñones de Benavente – Jocoseria. Burlas veras, o reprensión moral y festiva de los desórdenes públicos
• Molière – Le Médecin volant
• Paul Scarron – Jodelet

  Poetry

• John Milton – Poems of Mr. John Milton, Both English and Latin, compos'd at several times
• Sheikh Muhammad – Yoga-samgrama
• Edmund Waller – Poems

  Births

• August 14 – Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, Mexican priest, poet, geographer, and historian
• August 16 or 17 – Jean de La Bruyère, French essayist
• Unknown date – Edmund Bohun, English historian, publicist and political writer

  Deaths

• April 17 – Daniel Featley, English Calvinist theologian
• August 28 – Hugo Grotius, Dutch polymath
• August 31 – Francesco Bracciolini, Italian poet
• September 8 – Francisco de Quevedo, Spanish nobleman, politician and poet
• Unknown dates
• *Feng Menglong, Chinese vernacular poet and author
• *William Lithgow, Scottish travel writer
• *John Paul Nazarius, Italian Dominican theologian