Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

• Ludovico Ariosto begins work on his Orlando Furioso

• Publio Fausto Andrelini, Eclogues, full of proverbial expressions
• William Dunbar, The Dance of the Sevin Deidly Synnis, Scotland^[1]
• Stephen Hawes, The Passtyme of Pleasure (completed, approximate date), England
• Niccolò Machiavelli, The First Decade (Decennale primo), Italy^[2]

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

• February – George Buchanan (died 1582), Scottish historian, scholar, humanist and poet
• Approximate date – Hwang Jini (died c.1560), Korean poet

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

• Mihri Hatun (born unknown), female Ottoman poet
• Johannes von Soest (born 1448), German composer, theorist and poet

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