E102B || Restoration and Revolution || Katherine Philips || SQ on several poems (a biographical site--DNB)
Katherine Philips was known as "the matchless Orinda." She is the first female poet in English to have gained important recognition in her lifetime.
Katherine Philips was born Katherine Fowler on January 1, 1632. Her father was a London merchant and a moderate puritan. She was educated at Mrs. Salmon's School in Hackney (London) where she met Mary Aubrey, the "Rosania" of her poems, and Mary Harvey, later the wife of Sir Edward Dering, who became "Silvander." Katherine's father died in 1639, and her mother remarried in 1646 to a Welsh baronet. Katherine's new stepfather married Katherine to a relative of his, James Philips. When the couple married in 1648, Philips was thirty-eight years older than Katherine, who was sixteen. James Philips was a prominent Parliamentary supporter who signed Charles I's death-warrant in 1649.
Katherine seems to have started to write poetry soon after she got married, and she was "discovered" by the poet Henry Vaughan, who praised the work of "The Matchless Orinda" in his Olor Iscanus. Vaughan subsequently published a memorial poem Katharine had written for the poet and playwright William Cartwright (1611-1643). It was at this time that she began to use "Orinda" as a pen-name, and wrote poetry principally of a personal nature to Mary Aubrey, her "Rosania". After Mary's marriage Katharine's chief poetic "correspondent" became Anne Owen, or "Lucasia."
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/philips/philipsbio.htm
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Precocious achievement:
She was said to have read the Bible through before she was “full foure years old”; she had memorized many passages and could locate them by chapter. And she often went to listen to sermons and sometimes memorized a sermon while listening.
(See The Collected Works of Katherine Philips, p. 2.)
The Literary Manuscripts of Katherine Philips (1632-1664)
“Arion to a Dolphin, On His Majesty's passage into England” *
1. The legend of Arion and the Dolphin is very famous and can be found in the work of the early Greek historian Herodotus. Why might this legend seem suitable for a poetic version of Charles II's wanderings and return? See Wikipedia for a discussion.
2. Notice the rhyme words. What do they tell you about the poem's themes and claims?
Rhyme words: bring/king; Seas/Peace; survey/pay; again/Reign; bear/here; boast/engrost; august/dust; etc.
3. Can you use what you know about heroic couplets to analyze this poem?
4. What does the couplet "Cromwell his whole Right never gain'd, / Defender of the Faith remain'd" mean?
5. What do you think needs to be annotated?
“On the Death of my First and Dearest Child, Hector Philips” *
1. This elegy for her infant son expresses Philips' deep sense of loss but also comments on poetry. What does the poem seem to say about writing poetry?
2. How do the rhymes work to intensify or challenge what the lines seem to say?
3. Does the poem seem to allow any comfort to its writer?
4. If this poem is moving to you, what accounts for its power?
”In Memory of F.P.” **1. This is an elegy for her step-daughter, who died when she was 12. How might you compare this elegy with the earlier one?
2. This poem is in heroic couplets. Can you use what you know about heroic couplets to analyze "In Memory of F.P."? How do the lines of the couplets work together? How do the rhyme words work?
3. What does this poem say or imply about writing poetry? For example, what is the function of poetry in this instance?
4. What are the arguments of the poem? Do the arguments offer comfort?
5. Which words would you like to have annotated? For example, what does the word "stupid" mean in line 14? Check the OED.
In order to get access to the Oxford English Dictionary (or any other of UCI's licensed materials), you will need to use a campus computer or connect via VPN. You can ask me about this. You can also go directly to NACS' "Getting Started with VPN."6. Compare this poem with the one on p. 11, "Song."
”To my Lady M. Cavendish” *
1. "To my Lady M. Cavendish" is a poem of praise to another woman, a "celebrated writer." What is the poem's main claim?
2. What do you make of names like "Orinda" and "Policrite"?
3. What does your analysis of the poem's form tell you?
4. What questions would you add?
”Against Love” **1. If you just consider the end rhymes, what can you say about the poem?
toys,
Joys,
destroys.
ETC.
2. How can you describe the form of this poem? Where are the major breaks and how do they function?
3. What argument does this poem make "against love"?
To my Excellent Lucasia, on our Friendship"
1. Friendship, particularly the friendship of women, was a central theme in Philips' life and poetry. What claim does this poem seem to make about friendship?
“Friendship’s Mystery” *
1. The phrase "Saphic-Platonics" has been used to describe Philips' "Song." This poem was set to music "Adieu, Phillis." Does anyone know that tune? What difference does it make in reading to know that this poem is a song?
2. Alexander Pope's famous line "To help me thro' this long disease, my life" may have derived from Philips' first line, "'Tis true our life is but a long disease." If you have read Pope's poem (Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, line 132)
“To One persuading a Lady to Marriage”*1. What is the tone of this poem?
2. Can you paraphrase the poem?