The Platonic Poems of Katherine Philips.

This essay explores the philosophical context of poems by Katherine Philips (1632-1664). Her poems on friendship and divinity are infused with the concepts and language of the idealist tradition. It reveals the philosophical sources for her theories of the self and the soul, and draws comparisons between Philips's speculative poetry and the writings of her contemporary Anne Conway. Philips's poems explore Platonic notions of anamnesis, the utility of sight as a means of transcending the prison of the body, the nature of the soul, and the role of the divinity in maintaining the harmony of the universe. While her tributes to her friends' 'angelic natures' may reflect précieuse fashion, her descriptions of the soul draw extensively on Plato's Phaedrus, Neoplatonism and Cambridge Platonism. Like Conway, Philips offers alternatives to physical sequestration or faction through the spiritual affinities of all creatures. I argue that the 'Platonic' aspect of her poetry is not simply an outcome of repressed erotic desire, but a sophisticated engagement with the idealist tradition. This reading suggests that even in seemingly decorous or intellectually modest poetry, women writers were able to engage with some of the most significant debates of their time, including the response of a resurgent Platonic idealism to Cartesianism, materialism and mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]