Metaphor+and+Conceit

 A metaphor is a figure of speech concisely comparing two things, saying that one is the other. Unlike similes that use the words “as” or “like” to make a comparison, metaphors state that something //is// something else. A metaphor is in two parts: the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor is the subject to which attributes are ascribed. The vehicle is the subject whose attributes are borrowed. Other writers employ the general terms ground and figure to denote tenor and the vehicle. Consider the [|All the world's a stage]  monologue from //[|As You Like It]//: //All the world’s a stage,////And all the men and women merely players;////They have their exits and their entrances;// — [|William Shakespeare], //[|As You Like It]//, 2/7 In this metaphoric example, "the world" is compared to a stage, describing it with the attributes of “the stage”; "the world" is the tenor, and "a stage" is the vehicle; "men and women" is a secondary tenor, "players" is the secondary vehicle. An extended metaphor (conceit), establishes a principal subject (comparison) and subsidiary subjects (comparisons). The //As You Like It// quotation is a good example, the world is described as a stage, and then men and women are subsidiary subjects further described in the same context. Conceit Poetry Type is where an image or metaphor likens one thing to something else that is seemingly very different. Poets often use a far-fetched simile or metaphor in this style. An example of a conceit can be found in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?". The Metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century enjoyed creating particularly audacious metaphors and similes to compare very unlike things, and drawing attention to how skilfully they could sustain this comparison; this became known as the conceit. With most conceits, the extended comparison is more notable for its invention than its believability.