Conceit
A conceit is an extended, highly imaginative comparison that links two very unlike things in an unexpected way. Unlike a simple metaphor, a conceit usually develops at length and can shape part or all of a poem. Poets use conceits to create a striking intellectual surprise, as in the Petrarchan and metaphysical traditions.
An early exponent of conceits was the 14th Century Italian poet Petrarch. The Petrarchan conceit was imitated by many Elizabethan poets including Shakespeare. Conceits were also used extensively by the metaphysical poets. John Donne famously compared two lovers to a pair of compasses in his poem A Valediction: forbidding Mourning.
Example
My patience is a clock with no face,
its hands still walking the room
long after the house has gone dark.
Your voice, a key in the lock,
turns all that silence at once.
Related Definitions
[n] the trait of being vain and conceited
[n] feelings of excessive pride
Related Terms
abstract thought, act of thought, affectation, aggressive self-confidence, amour propre, aphorism, apothegm, apprehension, arrogance, assume, assumption, assurance, attitude, bee, believe, bluster, boast, boastfulness, boasting, bombast, bon mot, boutade,