1776 in poetry

Events

• March — American poet Phillis Wheatley, visits with General George Washington for half an hour in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after sending him the previous October a poem written in his honor. A former slave, she was a strong supporter of independence during the American Revolution. The poem was published March 26 in the Virginia Gazette

  Works published

United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom

• James Beattie, Poems on Several Occasions
• Richard Graves, Euphrosyne; or, Amusements on the Road of Life
• David Herd, editor, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, anthology
• William Mickle, translator, The Lusiad; or, The Discovery of India, translated from the original Portuguese of Luis de Camoens
• Hannah More, Sir Eldred of the Bower, and The Bleeding Rock
• Jonathan Richardson, Morning Thoughts; or, Poetical Meditations, Moral, Divine and Miscellaneous
• John Scott, Amwell
• Augustus Montague Toplady, Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Worship
• William Whitehead, Variety, published anonymously

  Other

• Johannes Ewald, a funeral ode on the occasion of the death of Frederik V; Denmark
• Basilio da Gama, Os Campos Elíseos, on the fine arts; Brazil
• Vincenzo Monti, La visione di Ezechiello, Italy
• Jonathan Odell, "A Birthday Song", United States

  Births

• April 17 - Jean-François Roger, French poet and politician
• April 21 - Ann Griffiths , Welsh hymn-writer
• July 18 - John Struthers, Scottish poet
• September 21 - John Fitchett, English epic poet
• November 16 - Mary Matilda Betham, English diarist, scholar and poet
• year not certain - Charles Newton

  Deaths

• January 26 - Evan Lloyd, Welsh satirical poet and clergyman
• August 28? - John Edwards , Welsh poet
• date not known - George Smith, British
• Jeanne-Catherine Van Goethem, Flemish poet