1674 in literature

• March 26 – The new Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opens in March. Designed by Christopher Wren, it replaces the original theatre that burned down in 1672.{{cite book|author=Tobias Gabel|title=Paradise Reframed: Milton, Dryden, and the Politics of Literary Adaptation, 1658–1679|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MTXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|date=6 June 2016|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|isbn=978-3-8253-6636-0|pages=47}}
• unknown dates
• The poet Isaac de Benserade is elected to the French Academy,{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Benserade, Isaac de |volume= 03 | page = 744; lines five and six |quote=...in 1674, admitted to the Academy...}} along with the churchman and scholar Pierre Daniel Huet.{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Huet, Pierre Daniel |volume= 13 | pages = 855–856 |quote=Huet was admitted to the Academy in 1674}}
• Schlosstheater Celle is founded. By the 21st century it will be the oldest surviving theatre in Germany.
• The derivative nature of Restoration drama is displayed when the Duke's Company produces Thomas Shadwell's "operatic" re-adaptation of Dryden and Davenant's 1667 adaptation of The Tempest. In response, their rivals at the King's Company stage The Mock Tempest, or the Enchanted Castle by Thomas Duffet.

• Samuel Chappuzeau – Le Théâtre François
• Charles Cotton – The Compleat Gamester{{cite web |last1=Bodle |first1=Andy |title=Guide to games: Leaders of the pack: A short history of cards |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/22/history-of-playing-cards |website=The Guardian |accessdate=24 April 2019 |date=22 November 2008}}
• John Evelyn – Navigation and Commerce
• John Josselyn – An Account of the Voyages to New England, London: Printed for Giles Widdows
• Thomas Ken – Manual of Prayers for the use of the Scholars of Winchester College
• Anthony Wood – Historia et antiquitates Universitatis Oxoniensis

• Anonymous (and John Dryden?) – The Mistaken Husband
• Juan Bautista Diamante – Parte II de comedias
• William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle – The Triumphant Widow
• Pierre Corneille – Suréna
• John Crowne – Andromache
• Sir William Davenant – Macbeth, a "dramatic opera" adapted from Shakespeare's play, is published
• Thomas Duffet (attributed to) – The Amorous Old Woman
• The Empress of Morocco: a Farce
• The Mock Tempest
• Nathaniel Lee – The Tragedy of Nero, Emperour of Rome
• Jean Racine – Iphigénie
• Elkanah Settle – Love and Revenge

• Thomas Flatman – Poems and Songs
• John Milton – Paradise Lost, second edition

• January 15 – Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French poet and dramatist (died 1762)
• June 20 – Nicholas Rowe (dramatist) English dramatist and Poet Laureate (died 1718)
• October – Thomas Ruddiman, Scottish classicist (died 1757)
• October 6 – Nicolas-Hubert de Mongault, French writer and cleric (died 1746)
• December – Christmas Samuel, Welsh writer and minister (died 1764)

• March 7 – Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny, French novelist (born 1602)
• June 14 – Marin le Roy de Gomberville, French poet and novelist (born 1600)
• August 13 – Lucidor (Lars Johansson), Swedish burlesque poet (born 1638; killed in duel)
• September 27
• Robert Arnauld d'Andilly, French poet and translator (born 1589)
• Thomas Traherne, English poet and religious writer (born c. 1636)
• October – Robert Herrick, English poet (born 1591)
• November 8 – John Milton, English poet and polemicist (born 1608)
• December 9 – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon English historian and statesman (born 1609)
• Unknown dates
• Hu Zhengyan, Chinese artist, printmaker, calligrapher and publisher (born c. 1584)
• James Janeway, English children's writer and Puritan minister (born 1636)
• Miguel Sánchez, Mexican priest, writer and theologian (born 1594)

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