When the book titled
Poems. By the Incomparable Mrs K.P.
was published in 1664 Katherine Philips herself defined it as "those fugitive papers that have escap'd my hands", expressing her reluctance to publish them and her aversion to her works appearing in print. Despite her (apparent) modesty, Orinda and her work definitely occupied an important position in the literary field of that time. This book studies the life and work of Katherine Philips (1632-1664) from a historicist and socio-critical perspective. It posits that 'the Matchless Orinda' embodies the literary shift from manuscript to printed literature, and shows how a woman poet, following in the footsteps of successful male counterparts, such as Abraham Cowley and John Dryden, was able to achieve fame in the male-dominated literary world.