The year 1642 in literature involved some significant events.

Events

• May - John Milton marries Marie Powell.
• September 2 - The theatres in London are closed by the Puritan government; the "lascivious mirth and levity" of stage plays are to "cease and be forborn" for the next eighteen years, during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. Reportedly Richard Brome's A Jovial Crew is staged on the final day, and so is the last play performed during the era of English Renaissance theatre.

New books

• Sir Thomas Browne - Religio Medici
• Thomas Fuller - The Holy State and the Profane State
• Sir Walter Raleigh - The Prince, or Maxims of State

New drama

• Fran ois le M tel de Boisrobert - La Belle Pal ne
• Pierre Corneille - Polyeucte
• Francis Jaques - The Queen of Corsica
• Pierre du Ryer - Saul
• James Shirley - The Sisters
• Jan Vos - Klucht van Oene

New poetry

• Sir John Denham - Cooper's Hill
• Richard Lovelace - "To Althea, from Prison"

Births

• April 21 - Simon de La Loub re, diplomat, writer, mathematician and poet (died 1729)
• December 30 - Vincenzo da Filicaja, poet (died 1707)
• probable
  • Thomas Shadwell, dramatist (died 1692)
  • Edward Taylor, poet and author (died 1729)

Deaths

• May or June - Sir John Suckling, poet (born 1609)
• date unknown
  • Abdul-Haqq Dehlavi, Islamic scholar and writer (born 1551)
  • Sir Francis Kynaston, poet (born 1587)
  • James Mabbe, poet (born 1572)

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