Katherine Philips and her Works - Essay Example

Katherine Philips Katherine Philips was born in 1963 in London, England. John Fowler, her father was a Presbyterian merchant of bucklers bury and London. Before Philips was five years old it is claimed that, she had read the whole bible. She acquired education from Hackney boarding school from 1640 to1645 where she mastered several languages becoming fluent. It is at this point that she began to write verses appreciating French romances and plays within a circle of friends from which she acquired majority of her pet names that she gave to the members of the society as assign of friendship. Philips detached herself from Presbyterian traditions and admired the king and his church policy. Katherine’s mother married a Welshman called Hector Philips after the death of his father John Fowler. When Katherine was sixteen years old, she married James Philips a Welsh parliamentarian in 1647. James Philips was said to be fifty-four years old. However, there was little conflict between Katherine and her husband on political issues in that Katherine was a royalist and James was a supporter of Oliver Cromwell. This division is recorded in her poetry works. Katherine spent most of her time in London though her husband continued to reside in Wales. Her husband encouraged her literary creativity. Katherine had two children a daughter a son. Katherine founded the society of friendship, which originated from the cult in Neoplatonic love imported by Henrietta Maria in 1630 where members acquired pseudonyms from French romances of cavalier dramas. Katherine Philips borrowed these ideas and dramatized it in her society of friendship. The society of friendship existed between 1651 and 166. This society helped Katherine to establish a standard in literary skills for generations as she managed to establish herself as a model for female writers after her death. She was regarded as the apostle of female friendship and this attached great respect to her name. Katherine Philip’s home became the centre of the group. She wrote one hundred and sixteen poems, completed five verse translations, and translated two plays by Pirerre Corneille from the French between 1606 and 1684. Her plays were produced in public theaters in both London and Dublin becoming the first female dramatists to have her works produced in public. Phillips did not receive any pay for her work unlike Alphra Behn who is the first woman to write for the English stage as a professional. Anne Owen was the most important female member of the circle of friendship. She was known as Lucasia in Philips’s poems. Half of Philips poems are dedicated to lucasia; they have been believed to be emotional lovers and not physical for about ten years. Other lovers were Mary Awbrey known as Rosania and Elizabeth Boyle known as Celimena though there relationship was cut short by Philip’s death. Katherine used courtly love language when referring to her friends and members of the female friendship society, but the love between these women is believed to have been platonic. Her poetry does not suggest physical relationship between women as some critics put it. Critiques argued that Katherine works exhibited some lesbian tendencies, which she alleges that the female relationship as the meeting of souls evident in the lines from “to my excellent lucasia on our friendship.” Katherine went to Dublin in 1662 to pursue her husband’s claim to some Irish estates. It is from there that she was able to complete Corneille’s translation, which was produced in 1663 in the smock alley theater and printed in Dublin and London. It is believed that poet Vaughan Henry, who lived between 1622 and 1695, was a member of Katherine’s society of friendship. In her work, the Matchless Orinda, Katherine Philips averted the domestic matters whereby she addressed the issues that married experience. Philips depicted social love in her poems not as a form of physical pleasure or lust but as a standard of real love. Since people are caught in lustful desires in their daily lives, they eventually lose the ability of their mind. Philips stressed that love should be something that does not enslave a person but instead, it frees them and allows an individual to develop. She asserted that people should be careful because physical love is risky since it does not consider a person’s freedom and development as it focuses to advance selfish pleasures. Katherine Philip in her work showed that the real form of love is manifested in friendship since it gives room for a person to understand and know each other. Physical unity should not be taken as a form of love but instead there is need to develop spiritual love. This is explained well in her poem; “to my excellent Lucasia” that clearly describes this ephemeral love. Katherine Philips wrote a series of letters, which were published in 1705 under the title letters from “Orinda to poliarchus”. Bernard Lintot published these letters. At the court of restoration, poliarchus was the master of ceremony and after sometime, he translated the La Caprende, which talked about romantic life. She was recognized and respected for her poems and writings, which brought about the refined pleasures of platonic love. Philips might be the author of female poems written by Ephelia according to Gosse. Katherine died at the age of thirty-three years old. In 1664, John Keats who was a romantic poet lover published Philip’s first authorized collection of verses. He admired her work in a letter to a friend. Therefore, through Katherine Philips work, it is easy to realize that love is deeper and meaningful than the desires of the flesh. She managed to build strong friendship who acted as a source of her spiritual and emotional comfort because of the support they gave her in social participation and literary analysis. Works Cited Faithorne, William. Poems by the Most Deservedly Admired Mrs. Katherine Philips. New York: Kindle Books, 2011. Print. Philips, Katherine. The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature. Claire Buck, Ed. New York: Prentice Hall, 1992. Print. Philips, Katherine. Letters from Orinda to Poliarchus, the second edition (with additions). London: Gale ECCO, 2012. Print. Philips, Katherine. British Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide. Janet Todd, ed. London: Routledge, 1989. (537-538). Print. Read More