Home › Glossary › Letter C

Conceit Analogy

Metaphysics
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A conceit structured as a comparison of relationships, where the connection between two things parallels the connection between two other things. This creates logical proof through structural correspondence.

Detailed Definition
Analogical conceits allow metaphysical poets to argue their case through mathematical-like reasoning, establishing that if relationship A holds between items 1 and 2, then parallel relationship B should hold between items 3 and 4. This technique transforms poetry into philosophical proof, making spiritual insights seem as logically inevitable as mathematical theorems.
Example
Example in poetry:
John Donne’s “The Sun Rising” uses the analogy of lovers as the entire world to diminish the sun’s power; Emily Dickinson compares the brain to the sky in “The Brain—is wider than the Sky—”; George Herbert’s “The Flower” analogizes spiritual renewal to seasonal blooming; Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” analogizes the mirror to a lake reflecting aging; T.S. Eliot compares the soul to a patient etherized upon a table in “Prufrock”; Robert Frost’s “Birches” analogizes swinging on birches to escaping earthly burdens.
Additional Notes
Conceit Analogy in metaphysics draws parallels between unlike domains to illuminate hidden connections; unlike simple similes, metaphysical analogies are intellectually rigorous—Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” compares lovers to compass legs, using geometric precision to argue for spiritual unity transcending physical separation.
Also Known As
Analogical Conceit Metaphysical Analogy Comparative Conceit
Skip to main content