Philips, Katherine

(1631-1664)

   Katherine Flower was born in London to a merchant class family, educated at boarding school and was married at age 16 to James Philips, a man of 54. She spent her time in London, while he stayed primarily at Cardigan on the Welsh coast. Katherine had two children, one of whom died in infancy. She formed an organization of women called "The Society of Friendship," where the members each assumed classical pseudonyms. She was known as Orinda and was often referred to as "The Matchless Orinda." While most of her poetry was about her women lovers and was sensual in nature, the poems were said to be expressions of platonic love rather than sexual love. In 1662, in Ireland, she was encouraged by Lord Roscommon and the Earl of Orrery to complete a translation of Corneille's Pompée. The play was produced in Dublin in 1662 and later in London. She died of smallpox and was buried in the church of St. Benet Sherehog, London. Some of her poems: "A Country Life," "A Farwell to Rosania," "Against Love," "Invitation to the Countrey," "On the Welsh Language," "The Irish Greyhound."

   Sources: A Book of Women Poets from Antiquity to Now. Aliki Barnstone and Willis Barnstone, eds. Schocken Books, 1980. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Isle of Lesbos, the Biography of Katherine Philips (http://www.sappho.com/poetry/k_philip.html). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetic Theory. Thomas J. Collins and Vivienne Rundle, eds. Broadview, 1999. The Collected Works of Katherine Philips: Volume 1, 2 and 3. Patrick Thomas, ed. Stump Cross Books, 1990. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford Univer312 sity Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse. Stephen Coote, ed. Penguin Books, 1983.