• After meeting with Jacques Peletier du Mans, Joachim du Bellay decides to go to Paris, where he meets Pierre de Ronsard and Jean-Antoine de Baïf, who were studying Greek and Latin under Jean Daurat, also a poet.^[1]

• Luigi Alamanni, La Coltivazione, didactic poem written in imitation of Virgil's Georgics, Italian writer published in Paris, France
• Ludovico Ariosto, Le Rime di M. Ludovico Ariosto, edited by Iacopo Coppa Modanese; Italy^[2]
• John Heywood, A Dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of all the Proverbes in the Englishe Tongue; Great Britain^[3]

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

• Philippe Desportes (died 1606), French poet
• Veronica Franco (died 1591), Italian poet and courtesan

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

• February 18 – Martin Luther died (born 1483), German theologian and poet
• July 16 – Anne Askew, also spelled "Anne Ayscough" (born 1521) English poet and Protestant who was persecuted as a heretic; the only woman on record to have been tortured in the Tower of London, before being burnt at the stake
• August 3 – Étienne Dolet (born 1509), French writer, poet and humanist
• Also:
  • Pietro Bonomo, also known as "Petrus" (born 1458), Italian, humanist, diplomat, bishop of Trieste and Latin-language poet^[4]
  • Nikolaus Decius died sometime after this year (born 1485), German

• Poetry
• 16th century in poetry
• 16th century in literature
• French Renaissance literature
• Renaissance literature
• Spanish Renaissance literature