Page "Katherine Philips" Paragraph 16

Social love, as seen in these poems, is not as base as lust, but it does not meet the standard of true love.

Philips married a man considered a ' good match ' for her.

He was a family friend with a wealthy estate, and in 17th century England that constituted a great catch.

Unfortunately Philips did not love her husband as much as she loved her friends, but she did have genial feelings toward him.

Her poem " To my dearest Antenor " illustrates how this social arrangement can never meet her idea of true love.

She says, " each of our Souls did in its temper fit ,/ And in the other ’ s Mould so fashion ’ d it " ( 5-6 ).

In these lines the speaker does admit that their souls fit to each other, but she makes in a point to say that she was fit into the other's mould.

Her freedom was constricted ; her self was changed to meet another person's standard.

To the speaker this is not true love, for true love allows one to grow organically instead of being unnaturally formed.

Thus, at the end of the poem a riddle is posed to the reader, " So in my Breast thy Picture drawn shall be, / My guide, Life, Object, Friend and Destiny: / And none shal know, though they imploy their wit, / Which is the right Antenor, thou, or it ” ( 35-38 ).

The speaker does not truly believe that the arranged social bond she made was able to turn her lover into her life and destiny.

Instead, inside her heart, she paints an idealized picture of a love she will never have.