User:TheMostDeservedlyAdmiredKS/sandbox

Reception History
Unlike many female authors in the 18th century, like Aphra Behn, Philips was widely acclaimed before and after her death. She was praised by both men and women from different walks of life: nobility, friends, and well-known poets such as the famous John Dryden all praised Philips and her work. The poet Abraham Cowley called Philips, “the only genuine women poet known in history”, and placed her above Sappho, an ancient Greek female poet. It is argued that since her death in 1664, Philips has never once been forgotten.

The overwhelming consensus is that Philips has been well-received throughout time, and deserves the praise she is given. Audiences enjoy Philips because her content is extremely moral and she was a humble author. In 1752, Memoirs of Several Ladies of Great Britain was published by George Ballard, who lauded Philips for being humble and modest. The main reason that Philips was seen as humble was that she claimed she didn’t actively seek publication. During a time where published female authors were compared to prostitutes, Philips did not want scandal attached to her or her husband, who was a politician.

Not only was Philips accepted for being virtuous, but her persona, Orinda, had similar attributes that made Philips’ writing extremely popular. Orinda was a voice that acknowledged her inferiority to men, and worked within her social boundaries. Philips didn’t have to scandalously break boundaries, to be well-known. Instead, she urged women to work within the norms and situations they could not control, and take solace in female friendships. Taking her own advice, she effectively worked within the boundaries of respectable society to get published. Being published in itself was radical for women, and Philips constructed her own narrative in a particular way to escape any negative consequences of being a published female author. The persona of Orinda allowed Philips to write and receive renowned acclaim without the negative consequences of publishing.

However, there are a few outliers when discussing Philips’ reception. The male poets John Keats, Thomas Campbell , and Thomas Newcomb criticized Philips’ intellect and women’s intellects as a whole, and her publisher Souers criticized the merits of her writing, yet he helped make her career possible. As with so many female authors, Philips’ favor with the public rested on the opinion of men. Luckily for her, Philips’ critics by no means represent the average reception of her work; and they weren’t even very ferocious critics.

Philips had a remarkable influence on the literary world, inspiring authors like Francis Finch and Jeremy Taylor, who "acknowledged her as the high priestess of friendship by publishing treatises inspired by friendship as defined and practiced by her." During Philips' life she inspired authors Delarivier Manley, who claimed to prefer privacy and virtue too. Manley also praised Catharine Trotter Cockburn, who she said filled the place of Orinda. Many of Philips' poems were put to music, and she remains the model for a pure female author as “the matchless Orinda”.