Though Katherine Philips' life was all too brief, her accomplishments as poet, dramatist, and translator are not insignificant. Her corpus includes over 120 poems. While most of these are original, several are translations or adaptations. “A Country Life,” for example, is based on Horace's “
Beatus ille.” She also has several translations of poems from Italian and French, including Antoine-Girard de Saint-Amant's “La Solitude.” In addition to writing and translating poetry, she translated two plays by Pierre Corneille,
Pompeyand
Horace. As a result of these efforts, she is credited with being the first female to have a work staged in Britain. Philips also wrote numerous letters to friends, some of which were published.
Katharine Fowler was born in London on January 1, 1632. Her
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Citation: Malpezzi, Frances. "Katherine Philips". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 January 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3551, accessed 25 November 2024.]