ABSTRACT
The Countess of Pembroke’s A Discourse of Life and Death is a gem, a polished translation of a formidable French essay, the Excellent discours de la vie et de la mort by Philippe DuplessisMornay, Seigneur du Plessis-Marly. its beautiful cadences, striking metaphors, and idiomatic english most likely derive from Pembroke’s close connection to the subject and to the author, although we might wonder how much she learned significant aspects of her rhetorical and creative skill from the very process of translating a brilliant writer, and how much this work was the result of an already successful preparation for a writing vocation. Pembroke’s facility with figurative language and her control of specific rhetorical devices may indicate both good instruction and the choice of a particularly compatible text. The precisely noted completion date on “the 13. Of May 1590. At Wilton” and its printing in 1592 indicate that the translation takes precedence as Pembroke’s first extant publication.
