Philo-Philippa

Philo-Philippa is the pseudonym by which the anonymous author of a praise poem to Katherine Philips, the “matchless Orinda,” is known. Clearly the product of Restoration Dublin literary culture, the poem assesses the quality of Philips’s translation of Corneille’s play La Mort de Pompée, and claims Orinda as a muse for female poets. The author’s identity was a conundrum to Philips and remains so for modern critics. Debate around the female speaker’s historical identity centers on questions of gender and poetic voice, and the fluidity of poetic personae.