A "conceit" is an "elaborate metaphor" which establishes a striking parallel between two very dissimilar things. And there are two types of conceit:
1) The Petrarchan conceit is a type of metaphor used in love poems written by the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch, but became cliched in some of his later Elizabethan imitators. A typical Petrarchan conceit involves a cold, imperious beauty and her distressed male lover, who suffers from the lady's rejection, while praises her beauty, her cruelty and exaggerates his own misery. For example, the despairing lover is a ship on a stormy sea, or a lady's eyes shine like stars, her lips are as red as coral, her breasts and her forehead are as white as snow, and so forth.
2) The metaphysical conceit is characteristic of John Donne's poetry and other metaphysical poets of the 17th century. In dramatic contrast to the figures of conventioanl Petrarchanism, Donne's metaphysical poems used witty and surprising comparisons drawn from miscellaneous sources--theology, alchemy, philosophy, cartography, and even everyday objects. The result is an extended metaphor with a highly intellectual and complicated logic that controls an entire poem.
What are the examples of John Donne's metaphysical conceit? Give us some examples and explain Donne's poetic argument.
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In the poem "The flea", John regards the flea's body as the marriage bed because the blood of the three mingles in its body. In the end of this poem, he uses a ridiculous (from my point of view) and genious way to persuade the girl to sleep with him for the virtue in her would not be weaken by sleeping with him just like the death of the flea would not threatened their lives. Because the poem is so vivid, reading this poem is just like watching a drama.
In the poem "Batter my heart, three-personed God", instead of using a soft tone to call God to forgive and help oneself as normal poems always do, Donne uses violent tone to intensify the power of this poem. He asks God to use its violence toward him, this is the only way to make him reborn. He also compares himself as a leaky pot, kidnapped virgin and captured town.
"The Canonization", John uses the characteristic of birds to enhance the power of their love; examples are as follows: phenoxi, dove, fly, eagle, moth.
John Donne used many metaphysical conceits in “The Sun Rising.” At the beginning, he describes the sun as a saucy, pedantic and wretch person. He is mad at the sun because the sun disturbs him and his lover. He asks the sun to visit those people who need to be called. He thinks that the sun shouldn’t call on them because people who in love don’t have the seasons; in this way, they don’t have to follow the sun’s logic. Moreover, he doesn’t think that the sun is reverend and strong as what general people regard. He said that he could easily eclipse it with one wink. He used very different way to portray the sun’s image. Also, he used another witty metaphysical conceits to sun’s revolve. In the nature, sun has to revolve around north and south hemispheres. However, he said that the bed that he and his lover lying on is the center of orbit. Where he and his lover stand is the whole world, so he proudly “permits” sun to shine on them.
In “The Sun Rising”, the man called to sun that did not shine them since they did not need this light. We know that the sun will revolve the entire world, but Donne used unique conceits to tell readers that the couple could choose that they didn’t need this kind of light. “The Flea”, I could not understand the relationship between the flea and the marriage bed at first. Nevertheless, after the classmate and teacher make clear explanation, I discovered that Donne was such a genius who used these farfetched things in his work. He was such a unique poet in that age. “Death, be not proud”, he called death to be not proud first. As more as we know, that most of people will be afraid of death. However, Donned listed more of things such as poison, war, and sickness to persuade that death was not the winner, and it existed to undergo missions.
One of the examples of metaphysical conceit I remember the most in the ‘’compass.’ ’In ’’A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’’, John Donne described the love between he and his wife as the two feet of a compass—his lover is like the fixed point in the center, and he is like the foot that moves around it. Donne used an everyday subject to describe the spiritual and intellectual love with his wife. Not only is it creative but also it creates a spectacular conflict. That is, he used such an ordinary thing which we could see in everyday life to make connection to people’s relationship. I think it is the reason why metaphysical conceit is more attractive than the Petrarchan conceit.
In the poem” The Flea”, John Donne just wanted to convince a woman to accept his love; however, instead of expressing his request by using direct conventional rhetoric, he transferred his coaxing into an unrestrained and vigorous style that brims with talent. From a flea to their love, he also made twist argument. Foe example, at the end of the poem, “’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be; Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me, Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.” This is definitely a style of metaphysical conceit. He said that he and his lover do not get weak by killing the flea. If it is true, his lover should learn how false she is and her fears of sex are mistakes. The flea can not take his lover’s life or make her die, so she will not lose her virtue if she sleeps with me. The only purpose of John Donne is to deceive his lover to have a sex with him. He used a flea to represent a sexual union and witty convincingness. It’s really ingenious to broaden his argument only in a small common bug. In the third stanza of the poem “The Canonization”, John Donne also used metaphysical conceit. He implied that he and his lover are flies and tapers to explain the intensity if his love. They can be burned in order to fulfill their own will. The phoenix can not be killed as well as their love which is killed but revived and reborn just like a never ending circle. After feeling the wonder profoundly, finally, I understood why the metaphysical conceit could be left a sublime position for posterior poetry. =)
In John Donne's poem "The Flea," he uses the flea to refer to their love, which is un exceptable one. "It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, and in this flea our two bloods mingled be." He tries to convince the girl to have sex with him. If she sleeps with him, she will not lose her virtue, just like killing the flea that has sucked their blood will not kill them both. In "A Valetiction: Forbidden Morning," he uses earthquake to refer to the love between ordinary people, which may sometimes bring harms and fears, but refer their love to the trpidation of the earthwuake, which is innocent.
I have a strong impression of John Donne's witty metaphor by using a compass to describe his wife and him as the two feet of a compass. The compass (the tool used for drawing circles) perfectly fit the values of Donne's spiritual love－balanced, symmetrical, intellectual, serious, and beautiful in its simplicity. Donne uses witty and surprising comparisons drawn from two unrelated things-love and compass to describe their unique love from lay people. “The firmness makes my circle just, and makes me end where I begun.” Perhaps, that’s the beauty of the metaphysical conceit for us to appreciate.
The poem " A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is a poem that metaphor their spiritual love. He use the image od the compasses to describe their condition and relationship between he and his lover. And he used earth to depict themselves, they are two part of the sphere. He also compare their love to normal people. I think his poem is very unique and creative, and he could think so many things in our lives to describe things. It is very different from the Patrachan conceit. And another poem " The Sun Rising" is shows how holy their love is. He exaggerated thier love that the sun only shine half of the world while they have the whole world's happiness. I think this poem is interesting to let we involve the feelimg from the poem. However, it is still show some different side of love. Love sometimes is transient and human kinds heart are fickle.
I have an impression of John Donne's poem "The Good-Morrow". "Where can we find two better hemispheres, Without sharp north, without declining west?" The north means the quarrels between lovers. And declining west means not growing old and no bored. And two hemispheres become a whole world. It also means that the whole world, which only him and her, is actually perfect. John Donne describes his only love to his lover by this way is very touching. And the metaphysical conceit gives a poem more imagination and magic.
The poem that I remember the most of John Donne is “The Flea.” In this poem, he used very witty way to persuade the woman to have sex with him. He said that the lady actually had already slept with him because their blood mangled inside the body of the flea. And he describes that the flea’s body is their wedding bed because inside the body have three lives, his, the lady’s and the flea’s. They already live together and have sex inside the body of the flea. First he asked the lady not to kill the flea, but after the flea died, he started to say that no one would be weak because of flea. The flea cannot make her die, so have sex with him won’t make her die, either. John Donne used a marvelous and creative way to persuade the lady. I think the metaphysical conceit make the poem just like a drama playing before my own eyes, and it make the poem be more interesting to read.
I think there are many examples to say the metaphysical conceit from John Donne’ poems; for example, “the flea” is a good example to portray it. John Donne mingles the love between him and his lover through the flea, which is a special thing to portray love. Through the flea, their love can mingle with each other. This witty idea is exactly special to the readers, and it can give us surprise to learn. Take “Batter my heart, three-personed God” for another example: John Donne uses the pot mender to portray a lover, and he puts himself into leaky pot. He wants to make himself to be broken, blown, burned by his lover, and make him new to his lover. This idea is also creative, and it is exactly the style of metaphysical conceit. I think these two can actually point out what the metaphysical conceit is.
To me the most impressive poem written by John Donne is "The Flea". In the poem he refers to the flea as their love that mingles their blood toghether. He uses many genius way trying to persuade the woman to have sex with him. At first, he tell the woman that they had had sex before when the flea sting him and her because at that time sex is the minglement of bloods from two persons. He asked the woman not to kill the flea. However, after she killed it, he said that neither he nor she is weaken by the flea, just like he and she would not lose anything after they have sex. He is really a genius poet, but if I were the woman, I would not sleep with him because his words are so ridiculous.
I think the poem “The Flea” is a typical one. In this poem, the narrator takes the flea as a medium to persuade her girlfriend into having sex with him. He twists his argument that the flea is their marriage bed because it has sucked their blood which would mingle within its body, so it is okay for them to have sex. He also makes a sophistry when the girl tries to kill the flea. Because she believes that they would not be weakened by the death of the flea, he indicates that nor would their virtue be weakened if they have sex.
The poem “The Good-Morrow” is also a good example. He compares the love between the lovers in this poem to two hemispheres which fit each other perfectly without any chasm. Moreover, the “good-morrow” also means the coming of the true love, implying that the time before their love is just like sleeping or not being weaned. Now they meet each other, so it’s time to say “good-morrow.” It is also an excellent metaphysical conceit.
There are also many wonderful and impressive metaphysical conceits in the poem “The Sun Rising.” In the beginning of this poem, the sun is compared to a saucy pedantic wretch person who shines at them and disturbs them. He says that the sun should shine at other people who need it. Subsequently, he says that the sun is not as reverend and strong as how people think it is, for he can eclipse it simply with a wink. Furthermore, he also says that all valuable spice and gold are on the bed of his and her lover. Then, he indicates that their love makes them the whole world, and since the sun can only shine at half of the earth, it has only half of their happiness. In the end, he even asserts that because they are the whole world, the sun can simply stay and shine at them to accomplish its duty.
The most impressing metaphysical conceit to me is the “compass”. Donne described the love between her wife and he is like a compass. The more far distance between them, the more deep love they have. Also, the oblique compass can represent the heart of them slant to each other. I think it is really touching and perfect conceit, so I like it.
Among John Donne’s poems, many of which use the way of metaphysical conceit. For example, in “ The Flea”, he compare the flea’s blood to the marriage bed ,and in flea’s blood, there are mingle three- he, the lady and flea. He even says that it is no harm for her virtue to have sex with him with comparing to the flea bit her which doesn’t harm her so much. And another example is in “The Canonization”, He compare his love with lots of metaphysical conceits, such as fly, tapers, the eagle, the dove and the phoenix, As for fly, it is a symbol of transitory life, and tapers are like candles which consume themselves. To the eagle and the dove, the eagle is refer to the strength; however, the dove is refer to the purity. Finally, the phoenix is for the immortality of the love relationship between his lover and him. He utilizes these imagines to canonize their love. In addition, he thinks that the ordinary people’s love is worldly compare to his love.
I would still like to use one of my favorite poem as an example, The Flea. In this poem, John uses many metaphors like at that time, people think that the womne is going to be pragnant when her and her mate's blood is mixed together and he uses the flea's body included both his and the girl's blood so they have already sexed. and another one i considered very interesting is that he described that the girl would not lose her virtue and purity just like she should not be dead after bitten by a flea. That is an impressive metaphor. I think metaphysical conceit is pretty cool which gives amazing and fantastic portrayal of things.
John Donne is good at using a lot metaphor to support his arguments and most of his ideas are creative that really impressed me. Take “The Flea” for example, in this poem he uses flea as examples to persuade a women to have the sexual relationship with him. And in “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning “, he cleverly use compasses as the metaphor of the relationship between him and his wife. He tries to persuade her wife that her responsibility to stay home when he leave, just like fixed foot to stay in the same place, waiting for her husband to come back and leans when missing her husband. When the time the husband comes back, it erects.
Still others such as in “The Computation,” he uses many years as metaphors to show that how he misses his beloved one deeply. He means that if he can’t see the woman he loved, a day can be as long as 2400 years. In “The Good-Morrow,” he use two hemispheres as metaphor to express the idea that two loves combine can be one perfect world. There are still a lot of other examples, and I really surprised about John Donne’s conceited but creative thinking.
The first one came to my mind is "the flea", John considered the body of the flea as the marriage bed since the blood of three(he,the flea,the women) mixed together in its body. "The sun is rising" is another good example. The author initiallly described the sun a trouble, for it diturbed his and his lover's love. He thinks their love dosen't need that kind of light
John Donne uses a variety of symbols and lots of reference to Bible or western classic literature, such as Greek mythology. There is also surprised symbol upstage, which seems very awkward to use such thing to represent, fleas, hemisphere, or even with strange creature that doesn’t exist on Earth to portrait his own romance with metaphysical poems. Donne has also a tendency to parody the Petrarchan conceit, which was taken as a ridiculous point of view from Donne’s eyes. Metaphysical conceit is multicultural and with a great range, with those comes in tons of new way of interpreting the subject love. Most impressive with what he had done with the flea: to put a meaning with love and sex by blood mixing.
There is a line in John Donne’s The Flea”A sin, nor shame nor loose of maidenhead. ” he used it to persuade the lady to have sex with him, and tried to convince her that your honor and virtue won’t be weakened by having sex with me. The thing he wanted is to fulfill his lust, but he used the elaborate metaphor to chase the lady. I don’t know weather it was worked or not, but undoubtedly the poem is really attractive and interesting.
In "The Flea",the poet used the flea to persuade the lady to have sex with him,because their blood had already been mixed in its body.At the end,he changed his statement,saying that her virtue wouldn't be stained during their sexual intercourse,just as the flea's death was such an irrelevant matter.
In my opinion, the use of metaphysical conceit is a logic game. As in Jonh Donne's "Better my heart, three-personed God," he asks God to bend him. Thus, this paradox of salvation through destruction appears to be the metaphysical conceit. This shocked me the most because he rather intending to persuade god into willing to forgive him than beg for damnations. I see this way of talking as his refuse to admit his fault.
John Donne’s poems are good at its colloquial and conversational style .His creation is out of indigenous poetry form at that times . Use simple words and speak common part by part , the sentence makes readers have a subtle feeling of what he talks about . In the poem ” The Good Morrow” , John Donne use many wild imagine to describe the main idea－love . Many metaphors show the lovely feeling after they fall in love . Poet pick up several terms to express the happiness . In the final paragraph , it mentions about the two missing hemispheres just like them . Without sharp north and declining west , makes them combine perfectly . And it will last for deathless if they can love each other full of determination .
John Donne’s poem usually used interesting comparisons that it’s fresh and new. In the poem “The Flea”, he took the flea as their love and wanted to convince the girl to have sex with him. He even said that if they had sex, the girl’s virtue won’t be stained. And in “The Sun Rising”, Donne described the sun as a big trouble because the sun disturbs him and his lover. It’s a really fresh conceit.
In John Donne's poem, Batter my heart, three-personed God, there are three metaphors in it. The metaphysical objects are that the leaky pot, kidnapped virgin, and a captured town. From these metaphors, John Donne wants to reveal the thought of being treated toughly by God since the objects that he uses are all dealt with roughly by their managers. As a result, the argument he makes suggests that he wants to be violently treated.
In “The Sun Rising”, the sun was playing a role to interupt the sweet time of the lovers. The speaker said, for lovers they don’t have seasons and they would not follow sun’s logic. Because the best thing he had is the lady, she was the kingdom for him. He can find those rich and beautiful things as long as she was by his side, their love is not like others’love which is true and genuine. He kept emphasizing that what they had was unique, the sun could only shine on the lovers, because the real world was mimic on them.
We are easy to see John Donne's metaphysical conceit from his poems.
Theology: we can find in “batter my heart, three-personed god” and “the canonization”.
Alchemy: “The Good-Morrow”, “whatever dies was not mixed equally / if our two lovers be one, or, thou and I”, their love likes alchemy, if they mixed equally, the love will be forever.
Cartography: “a valediction: forbidding mourning”, in this poem, he used some words about cartography, such as “compasses” and “fixed foot”.
Everyday objects: “the flea”
Personification: he also used the personification in “death, be not proud” and “the sun rising”.
In the “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,’’ poet uses the “compass” to describe the close relation between him and his wife. The fixed point is his dear wife, staying in the center to welcome his back. He is another point that circle around his wife. In stead of using the direct words to describe the close relationship between him and his wife, John Donne uses an indirect way to describe it. However, I think that the way is more attractive and makes people have the pace of imagination.
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