conceit

=Definition=


 * It is something that is conceived in the mind; a thought; an idea
 * It is an extended metaphor. Popular during the Renaissance and typical of John Donne or John Milton. Unlike allegory, which tends to have one-to-one correspondences, a conceit typically takes one subject and explores the metaphoric possibilities in the qualities associated with that subject.

=Examples=

THE VINE. by Robert Herrick

I DREAM'D this mortal part of mine Was Metamorphoz'd to a Vine; Which crawling one and every way, Enthrall'd my dainty //Lucia//. Me thought, her long small legs & thighs I with my //Tendrils// did surprize; Her Belly, Buttocks, and her Waste By my soft //Nerv'lits// were embrac'd: About her head I writhing hung, And with rich clusters (hid among The leaves) her temples I behung: So that my Lucia seem'd to me Young //Bacchus// ravished by his tree. My curles about her neck did craule, And armes and hands they did enthrall: So that she could not freely stir, (All parts there made one prisoner.) But when I crept with leaves to hide Those parts, which maids keep unespy'd, Such fleeting pleasures there I took, That with the fancie I awook; And found (Ah me!) this flesh of mine More like a //Stock// then like a //Vine//.

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 * Rhetoricae, Silva . Brigham Young University. 4 Apr 2007 .
 * Jokinen, Anniina. October 16, 2003. London: Oxford University Press, 1933. 17.. 4 Apr 2007 .