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What is a Conceit poem?

The objective of a conceit poem is to show the similarities between two very different things. These similarities are often seen as very surprising. The poet's objective is to try and make the audience admit that these objects are indeed similar. An example of this comparison would be saying, "My life is like a free online game, people seem to be playing with it.”

Example of a conceit poem:

“Thou counterfeit’st a bark, a sea, a wind;
For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,
Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,
Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;
Who, raging with thy tears, and they with them,
Without a sudden calm, will overset
Thy tempest-tossed body.”

(William Shakespeare)

Another example of a conceit poem:

The Flea

“Oh stay! three lives in one flea spare
Where we almost, yea more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage-bed and marriage-temple is”

(John Donne)

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