The year 1674 in literature involved some significant events.

Events

• Isaac de Benserade is elected to the French Academy, along with Pierre Daniel Huet.
• Thomas Ken and Izaak Walton visit Rome together.
• The new Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opens in March. Designed by Christopher Wren, it replaces the original theatre that burned down in 1672.
• The derivative nature of Restoration drama is richly 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.

New books

• Samuel Chappuzeau - Le Théâtre français
• 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

New drama

• Anonymous (and John Dryden?) - The Mistaken Husband
• 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

Poetry

• Thomas Flatman - Poems and Songs

Births

• January 15 - Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, poet and dramatist (born 1762)
• June - Nicholas Rowe (dramatist) (born 1718)
• October - Thomas Ruddiman, classical scholar (born 1757)

Deaths

• June 14 - Marin le Roy de Gomberville, poet and novelist (born 1600)
• August 13 - Lucidor, burlesque poet (born 1638) (killed in a duel)
• October - Robert Herrick (born 1591)
• November 8 - John Milton (born 1608)
• December 9 - Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (born 1609)