Katherine Philips

Katherine Philips (1632-1664) was the first English woman to become famous as a poet during her own lifetime. She was brought up as a moderate Puritan. After her father’s death her mother remarried and when she was sixteen her stepfather arranged her marriage to a Welsh Member of Parliament more than thirty years her senior, who sided against the King in the English Civil War. Philips, however, sympathised with the Royalists. Her friendships with women provided her with emotional support.

She was still in her teens when she started to write poetry under the pen name ‘Orinda’. At the time is was thought to be inappropriate for women to write, so she needed the alias to maintain her good name. Her poetry was popular during her lifetime and appealed to women. Her poetry often dealt with themes of female friendship.

She died of smallpox at the age of 32, after King Charles II regained the throne four years earlier in 1660; the historical period known as the Restoration. She also wrote plays and translated those of others. She was the first English woman to write a play that was professionally performed in London.