The Not So Domestic Goddess

Pulling My Heart Strings

Katherine Philips refined work stands in sharp contrast to Aphra Behn's work, which at the time, critics considered coarse and erotic. Many of the critics seem to forget that Aphra Behn is much more than a smutty writer and one of our readings this week will attest to that. While most believed Behn was writing about sexual encounters, Philips was writing poems of praise for her friends and epitaphs.

In a blog for another class, I admitted I was envious of the close bond Philips had with her female friends. Philips was a member of the "Society of Friendship," a social network of women whose members took classical pseudonyms and wrote poems to document their relationships.

These poems praising her friends did fascinate me but the one that touched my heart was, Epitahph: On Hector Philips. At St. Sith's Church. I could relate to this poem as a mother as I too went "seven years childless," before becoming pregnant and losing the baby. Thankfully, I did have a healthy baby girl the following year but I will never forget my loss. I feel Philips, and many other poets at the time, were writing epitaphs for children as a way to remember and honor the child.

posted by Lucy @ 6:41 AM