Conceit

Origin

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from conceivre

• 14th Century

Definitions

• 1a (1) : a result of mental activity : thought (2) : individual opinion

b : favorable opinion; especially : excessive appreciation of one's own worth or virtue

• 2: a fancy item or trifle
• 3a : a fanciful idea

b : an elaborate or strained metaphor

c : use or presence of such conceits in poetry

d : an organizing theme or concept <found his conceit for the film early — Peter Wilkinson>

Description

In literature, a conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. By juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in surprising ways, a conceit invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison. Extended conceits in English are part of the poetic idiom of Mannerism, during the later sixteenth and early seventeenth century.