1640 in literature

• January 21 – Salmacida Spolia, a masque written by Sir William Davenant and designed by Inigo Jones, is performed at Whitehall Palace – the final royal masque of the Caroline era.
• March 17 (St. Patrick's Day) – Henry Burnell's play Landgartha is first performed, at the Werburgh Street Theatre in Dublin. It is one of the earliest from a native Irish playwright.
• c. April 16 – James Shirley returns to England from Ireland.
• May 4 – The theatre manager William Beeston is sent to the Marshalsea Prison for staging a play – perhaps Richard Brome's The Court Beggar or his The Queen and Concubine) – which offends the Stuart regime. This constitutes the only repression of the theatre to occur during the reign of King Charles I.
• May 28 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca joins the Catalan campaign led by the Duke of Olivares.
• English Cavalier poet Richard Lovelace, serving in the Bishops' Wars in Scotland, writes "To Lucasta, Going to the Warres" (published 1649) and the unperformed tragedy The Soldier (lost).

• The Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in North America
• Uriel da Costa – Exemplar Humanae Vitae
• Diego de Saavedra Fajardo – Idea de un príncipe político cristiano (literally, "The Idea of a Christian Political Prince;" in English, The Royal Politician)
• Thomas Fuller – Joseph's Partly-coloured Coat
• James Howell – Dodona's Grove
• Cornelius Jansen – Augustinus
• Thomas Stephens – Arte da lingoa Canarim, a grammar of the Konkani language[1]
• John Wilkins – A Discourse Concerning a New Planet
• Francisco de Rioja – Aristarco o censura de la proclamación católica de los catalanes
• Baltasar Gracián – El político Don Fernando el Católico
• Juan Eusebio Nieremberg – De la diferencia entre lo temporal y lo eterno. Crisol de desengaño

• Henry Burnell – Landgartha
• Pierre Corneille – Horace
• William Davenant – Salmacida Spolia
• John Fletcher & James Shirley – The Night Walker (published)
• Henry Glapthorne – The Hollander, Wit in a Constable, and The Ladies' Privilege (published)
• John Gough – The Strange Discovery
• William Habington – The Queen of Arragon
• Samuel Harding – Sicily and Naples
• Jean Mairet – L’Illustre corsaire
• Nathaniel Richards – Messalina (published)
• Joseph Rutter- The Cid, Part 2 (published)
• George Sandys – Christ's Passion (English translation of Hugo Grotius's Christus Patiens)
• Lewis Sharpe – The Noble Stranger published
• James Shirley – The Imposture performed; a single-volume collection of eight plays published; The Arcadia, The Humorous Courtier, and Saint Patrick for Ireland published; The Coronation published but misattributed to John Fletcher
• Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla – Los bandos de Verona
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca – Psiquis y Cupido
• Valentín de Céspedes – Las glorias del mejor siglo
• Lope de Vega – Parte XXIV de comedias
• Entremeses nuevos
• Fray Alonso Remón – Las tres mujeres en una
• Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla
  • Donde hay agravios no hay celos
  • No hay amigo para amigo
  • Progne y Filomena

• Thomas Carew – Poems
• Robert Sempill the younger – The Life and Death of Habbie Simpson, Piper of Kilbarchan
• John Tatham – Fancy's Theatre
• Romances varios de diversos autores

• April 2 – Marianna Alcoforado, Portuguese nun and purported letter-writer (died 1723)
• June 5 – Pu Songling (蒲松龄), Chinese writer (died 1715)
• August 8 – Amalia Catharina, German poet (died 1697)
• September 6 – Heinrich Brewer, German historian (died c. 1713)
• December 6 – Claude Fleury, French historian (died 1723)
• December 14 (baptized) – Aphra Behn (Eaffrey Johnson), English dramatist (died 1689)[2]

Uncertain dates

• David-Augustin de Brueys, French theologian and dramatist (died 1723)
• Madame de Villedieu, French dramatist and novelist (died 1683)

• January 25 – Robert Burton, English scholar (born 1577)
• February/March – Richard Rowlands, English antiquary (born c. 1550)
• March 8 (burial) – Samuel Ward, English Puritan preacher and writer (born 1577)
• March 17 – Philip Massinger, English dramatist (born 1583)
• March 22 – Thomas Carew, English poet (born 1595)
• April – Uriel da Costa, Portuguese philosopher (born c. 1585)
• April 2 – Paul Fleming, German poet (born 1609)
• April 28 (burial) – William Alabaster, English poet and playwright (born 1567)
• May 30 – André Duchesne, French historian (born 1584)
• October 1 – Claudio Achillini, Italian philosopher and poet (born 1574)
• December
  • William Aspley, English publisher (born c. 1573)
  • Sir John Melton, English politician and writer (unknown year of birth)
• unknown dates
  • Charles Aleyn, English poet (unknown year of birth)
  • Daniel Naborowski, Polish Baroque poet (born 1573)
• probable – Elizabeth Melville, Scottish poet (born c. 1578)[3]