CONCEIT
By: Jessica Mendoza and
Victoria Hernandez
WHAT DOES CONCEIT MEAN?
 Conceit
in literature denotes an elaborate
or unusual figure of speech or
comparison , usually using unlikely
metaphors, simile, hyperbole, and
contradictions
 The comparison may be brief or
extended
 Conceit was a synonym for “thought” , “
idea”, or “Concept “ before the 17th
century
SO HOW DO YOU SAY PRONOUNCE
IT
?
[kuh n-seet]
http://dictionary.reference.com/bro
wse/conceited
LITERARY EXAMPLES
A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING
by John Donne
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to aery thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.
And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
MORE LITERARY EXAMPLES…

In one little body
Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a

When I perceive that men as
wind;
plants increase,
For still thy eyes, which I may call the
Cheered and cheque'd even by
sea,
the self-same sky,
Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark
Vaunt in their youthful sap,
thy body is,
at height decrease,
Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy
And wear their brave state
sighs;
out of memory;
Who, raging with thy tears, and they
with them,
Without a sudden calm, will overset
Thy tempest-tossed body. [III.v,130-7]
ANALYSIS



In Valediction Forbidding Mourning the author uses
conceit when he talks about his love being like a compass.
He uses this to represent two lovers soul with the two
different points on a compass. In this the author tries to
show how two complete different things can be similar to
each other.
In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 15 men are described as being
flowers. He tries to show how freely and cheerful they can
be like flowers. The author uses conceit to demonstrate the
similar traits between men and flowers.
In Romeo and Juliet the use of conceit is seen when the
author explains the emotional circumstances Juliet is in
with the circumstances a boat faces in a storm. The author
is trying to show how both the storm and her sadness are a
bit chaotic. He is trying to show how these two complete
events can be compared.
CITATIONS


Donne, John. "Lines 21-32." A VALEDICTION
FORBIDDING MOURNING. 2 Jan. 2000. Web. 9
Oct. 2010.
<http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/mour
ning.php>.
Shakespeare, William. "Lines 5 -8." Sonnet 15.
Amanda Mabillard, 9 Feb. 2010. Web. 9 Oct.
2010. <http://www.shakespeareonline.com/sonnets/15.html>.