Daryna Borovets Group 2.

Definition of Conceit
As a literary device, a conceit uses an extended metaphor that compares two very
dissimilar things. A conceit is often elaborate and controls a large section of a
poem or the entire poem. Conceits are often quite unique and ingenuous, and can
present striking juxtaposition and comparison of the unlike things. At times this
can mean that the reader is strongly aware of the dissimilarities between the two
things being compared in metaphor, yet the conceit broadens the reader’s
awareness of the complexity of the things in question. A conceit therefore often
contributes to a greater sophistication of understanding about the things being
compared due to the surprise factor of the unusual comparison.
The definition of conceit has changed over time. It was an especially popular
literary device in the Renaissance Era, and with the so-called metaphysical poets,
like John Donne. In the beginning of the Renaissance, the word conceit referred to
any fanciful expression of wit. Later, it gained negative connotations, and was used
to describe the type of over-the-top comparisons that poets of the Renaissance Era
sometimes used to describe their loved ones. Now the word has come to mean
an extended metaphor of the kind popular in the Renaissance Era, without positive
or negative connections.
Difference Between Metaphysical Conceit and Petrarchan Conceit
There are two types of conceit that scholars recognize: metaphysical and
Petrarchan. Petrarchan conceit is named for the Italian poet Petrarch, and applies
only to love poetry in which the beloved is compared hyperbolically to extreme
experiences or things. It is through these hyperbolic comparisons that the poet
demonstrates the blissful heights and desperate lows of being in love. Sometimes
Petrarchan conceits are examples of oxymoron, as Shakespeare parodies in
Romeo’s insistence that his love for Rosaline is like “bright smoke, cold fire, sick
health.”
Metaphysical conceit is an imaginative leap made to compare two very unlike
things and explore their similarities. Sometimes a poet can hide the real meaning of
the metaphor under the surface of this comparison, while at other times a poet
might choose to literalize a metaphor and explore what it would be like if the
metaphor were realistic.

Common Examples of Conceit

Some idiomatic expressions are examples of conceit, as they compare things that
would not usually be compared. Since they are common idioms, they might not
immediately make us realize how strange the comparison really is, but if you think
about the comparison for a moment you’ll note how bizarre they must have
sounded the first time they were used. Here are some idiom examples that display
a conceit:
  Life is a bowl of cherries
 Dead as a doornail
 The apple of discord
 Bone of contention
 Fit as a fiddle
 Don’t get bent out of shape
 Steal someone’s thunder
 Spill the beans

Epithalamion by Edmund Spenser

Her goodly eyes like sapphires shining bright,

Her forehead ivory white
Her cheeks like apples which the sun hath rudded,
Her lips like cherries charming men to bite
In "Epithalamion," it is easy to see how the conceit was used to discuss features of
his love. Not only were her eyes compared to sapphires but her skin to ivory, her
cheeks to apples and her lips to cherries. In addition to showcasing her beauty,
Spenser is making his love appear succulent and mouth-watering as well.

Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
In "Sonnet 130," Shakespeare mocks poetry conceits that were getting a little out
of hand at the time. The comparison of his lover is definitely not to her advantage.
Rather than saying, "My mistress' eyes are like the sun," Shakespeare takes the
opposite stance on the cliché saying they are "nothing like the sun."
Not only does he make his lover sound downright haggard, but he pokes fun at
conceits that were getting overused and overblown. Shakespeare's mockery was so
effective, it's still laughable to this day.

Examples of Metaphysical Conceits

While Petrarchan conceits are pretty straightforward, metaphysical conceits are

harder to identify. These conceits use complex logic to make an un unlikely
comparison between the world and a person or concept.

Associated with metaphysical poets like John Donne, metaphysical conceits might

take a complicated topic like lover's souls and compare them to a compass. While
the comparison might seem absurd, the legs of a compass can never truly part, just
like a lovers' souls.

Explore some other fun examples of metaphysical conceit.

The Flea by John Donne

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, nay more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;
Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,
And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
"The Flea" is a perfect example of a metaphysical conceit. The entire poem itself
uses a flea bite as a way to talk a lover into a sexual relationship. Donne uses
creative and complex analogies to compare their sexual union to the bite of a flea.
Since their blood already mixed in the flea, they are already connected like they
would be in a sexual union.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,

Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast,--
Unlike "The Flea," in which the entire poem is a metaphysical conceit,
"Macbeth" uses metaphysical conceits throughout. For example, in act 2,
scene 2, sleep is compared to death, a bath and a second course. This works
to excite the reader and draw your attention to Macbeth's conscience and how
he is disturbed by the murders he committed.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S.

Eliot

Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table.
In more modern poetry, metaphysical conceits have become condensed like
in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." In his opening line, Eliot uses the
conceit to create a shocking image of night sky compared to a person
strapped to a table and waiting for surgery. It is a very stark and bold contrast
that jars the reader. The conceit becomes even more bold when you compare
it to the title, since it is supposed to be a love song.

Because I Could Not Stop for Death by

Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death -

He kindly stopped for me -
The Carriage held but just Ourselves -
And Immortality.
We slowly drove - He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility -
The entire poem is a conceit in "I Could Not Stop for Death." Dickinson is
using a carriage ride to describe a person dying. Through colorful language
and unique metaphors, Dickinson describes the slowness of old age through
the slowness of the carriage. She also showcases death like the setting of the
sun. The poem ends with the carriage stopping at a house, which is
"a'swelling in the ground," or their grave.