Metaphysical conceits
Mingling the Obscure and the Concrete
What is a Metaphysical Conceit?

The Encyclopaedia Britannica states:
-The metaphysical conceit [...] is a more intricate and
intellectual device. It usually sets up an analogy between one
entity’s spiritual qualities and an object in the physical world
and sometimes controls the whole structure of the poem.

Mostly meaning that an obscure idea (Life,
Death, Love, etc.) is compared to something
concrete, many times these ideas and things
are dissimilar.

"a conceit is a comparison whose ingenuity is more
striking than its justness" and that "a comparison
becomes a conceit when we are made to concede
likeness while being strongly conscious of unlikeness."
Background of
Metaphysical Conceits
A group of poets using the same style and
wit were lumped together as the
‘metaphysical poets’ (including Donne)
during the 17th century.
 To the best of my knowledge, the
metaphysical conceit stemmed from the
styles and poems of these writers.

GAME TIME
John Donne’s
The Broken Heart
A Bit About His Life

"The typical Elizabethan with his love of eloquence, with
his longing for brave new words, tended to enlarge and
generalise....Donne's genius was precisely the opposite
of this. He diminished; he particularised....It is this desire
for nakedness in an age that was florid, this
determination to record not the likenesses which go to
compose a rounded and seemly whole, but the
inconsistencies that break up semblances, the power to
make us feel the different emotions of love and hate and
laughter at the same time, that separate Donne from his
contemporaries."
-Virginia Woolf
A Bit About His Life:
Relationships
Little seems to be known about his
relationships with women before his
marriage, though there are some who
speculated him to be a womanizer.
 Donne seemed to love his wife very much
(Example: - A Valediction: Forbidding
Mourning). After 16 years of marriage she
died, Donne never remarried.

On to the Poem: Title
Note the title.
 “Broken Heart’ can be seen as the
emotional state, or a more literal situation
later in the poem.
 The title gives the reader an idea of what
the poem is about.

On to the Poem: Stanza 1
Mostly an introduction to the poem.
 Sets the theme and mood of the poem.
 Sickness and fire imagery.
 Two metaphysical conceits:
- Love compared to the plague
-Love compared to gunpowder

On to the Poem: Stanza 2
Donne develops this idea of love, an all
consuming and fatal monster. Note
capitalization of Love. (personification)
 Imagery of death and being devoured.
 Metaphors and similes referencing the chained
shot, the pike, and the fry.
 Perhaps another metaphysical conceit:
- Love compared to the pike
 The comparison of hearts to fry indicates
vulnerability.

On to the Poem: Stanza 3
Goes from speaking generally of to
almost speaking to a lover.
 Again Love is portrayed more like a being,
and the destroyer.
 Simile comparing hearts and glass.
(depicts hearts as fragile)

On to the Poem: Stanza 4
Winding down; conclusion of poem.
 Comparison of a broken heart to a
broken mirror and to rags.
 Themes of destruction and death
throughout the poem indicate the
metaphysical conceit:
- Love as compared to war

Bibliography







http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/377902/me
taphysical-conceit
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/donne/section1.rht
ml
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/metaintro.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceit
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/donnebio.ht
m
http://www.notablebiographies.com/De-Du/DonneJohn.html
Donne, John. The Complete Poetry & Selected Prose of
John Donne. Toronto: Random House, 1994.