The Conceit
Introduced| English |
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| A conceit/ə kənˈsiːt/ |
An extended metaphor that surprises
- A conceit 奇喻 is a form of extended metaphor that often appears in poetry.
- Conceits develop complex comparisons that present images, concepts and associations in surprising or paradoxical ways.
- So the surprise is part of the definition — a conceit that felt obvious would not be one.
Comparing a thought to a bicycle is bold; making the wheels, brakes and bell all matter is a conceit.
A conceit is a form of...
One that presents images and associations in surprising or paradoxical ways.
Often the natural world and a person
- Often, conceits are used to make complex comparisons between the natural world and an individual.
- That is a pattern worth knowing, because it tells you where to look.
- A poem that starts describing weather, tides or seasons at length is usually building toward a person.
Conceits are often built between the natural world and an individual.
Which is why a poem describing weather at length is usually building toward a person.
Comparisons can act on each other
- Multiple comparisons, representations or associations may combine to affect one another in complex ways.
- So in a conceit the later images change how you read the earlier ones.
- Analysing the first image alone gives an answer the rest of the poem contradicts.
Multiple comparisons may combine to ____ one another in complex ways.
So later images change how the earlier ones read.
In a conceit, later images change how the earlier ones read. The CED says multiple comparisons combine to affect one another in complex ways — so an analysis built on the opening image alone will usually be contradicted by the poem's own last stanza.
Which stage of the conceit is this?
Sort each element of a grief-as-tide conceit.
A conceit should be analysed as...
The ending is frequently a reversal, and only stage-tracking catches it.
Track the conceit stage by stage
- A conceit is long, so treat it as a sequence rather than a single device.
- At each stage, say what has been added and what it does to the comparison so far.
- The ending of a conceit is frequently a reversal, and only stage-tracking catches it.
Put the conceit pass in order.
The last relationship is where a conceit stops being a long metaphor.
A conceit pass
- Name the main subject and the comparison subject, once.
- List the stages of the extension in order, with what each adds.
- Then say what the last stage does to the first — that relationship is the analysis.
A grief is compared to a tide: it comes in (stage one), it takes what was left on the beach (stage two), and then — stage three — it goes out and leaves everything visible. The final stage reverses the first: what looked like loss was the only thing that ever uncovered anything.
A conceit is an extended metaphor that presents images and associations in surprising or paradoxical ways, often comparing the natural world and an individual. Multiple comparisons combine to affect one another, so track the conceit stage by stage and say what the last stage does to the first.