Katherine Philips (1631–1664)

Katherine Philips, née Fowler, was born in London, the daughter of a prosperous merchant. She was educated at boarding school in Hackney, and became fluent in several languages. In 1647, at age 16, she was married to James Philips of Cardigan Priory in Wales, who was nearly 40 years her senior. The differences between the two were mostly political in nature: she was a Royalist, while he supported Oliver Cromwell and Parliament. This diversion in their views is recorded in Katherine's poetry. James Philips encouraged his wife's literary activities and left her largely to her own devices in London. Katherine Philips was the first female poet in England to have her work published, and was popularly known as "the Matchless Orinda" and "the English Sappho" by her contemporaries. Her earliest works appeared prefixed to the works of William Cartwright in 1651. Katherine wrote about 116 poems, completed five verse translations, and translated two plays by Pierre Corneille from the French. The earlier of these translations, a rendering of La mort de Pompée (The Death of Pompey) was produced in 1663, the first play by a woman to be performed on the professional London stage. Her correspondence with Sir Charles Cotterell, Master of Ceremonies to King Charles II, was posthumously published as Letters from Orinda to Poliarchus (1705). She died of smallpox at age 33.