An extended metaphor, also called a conceit or sustained metaphor, is a type of comparison used in literature. It is different from a simple metaphor because it continues for a long time and connects the main subject being described (called the tenor) to the comparison used (called the vehicle) in more than one way. These connections are shown again and again, found, looked at again, and used in new ways throughout the work.

History of meaning

During the Renaissance, the word conceit (related to the word concept) meant the main idea behind a literary work—its theme. Over time, it came to describe a long and dramatic metaphor often used in Renaissance poetry. Later, it referred to even more complex metaphors found in 17th-century poetry.

The Renaissance conceit, especially important in Petrarch’s Il Canzoniere, is also called the Petrarchan conceit. It is a comparison that describes human experiences using a very large metaphor (a type of exaggerated metaphor). For example, Petrarch compared the effect of his beloved’s gaze to the sun melting snow. Poetry history often shows poets using ideas from earlier poets, such as Shakespeare using Petrarchan imagery in his Sonnet 130: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.”

In the 17th century, and among poets sometimes called metaphysical poets, the idea of elaborate metaphors expanded. Their conceit differs from a simple analogy because the things being compared do not clearly match. Helen Gardner, who studied metaphysical poets, noted that “a conceit is a comparison that impresses with its cleverness more than its accuracy” and that “a comparison becomes a conceit when it makes us see a similarity even though we also notice differences.”

Petrarchan

The Petrarchan conceit is a type of love poem where the person being loved is described using exaggerated comparisons. For example, the lover might be compared to a ship in a storm, and the beloved might be called "a cloud of dark disdain" or "the sun."

The confusing mix of pain and happiness in being in love is often shown using oxymorons, which are phrases that join opposite ideas, such as "peace and war" or "burning and freezing." These ideas were new and creative in Petrarch's sonnets, where he explored human emotions in fresh ways. However, over time, these images became common and less special in the works of later poets who copied his style. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo uses overused Petrarchan comparisons when describing his love for Rosaline, calling her "bright smoke, cold fire, sick health."

In Sonnet 18, the speaker uses a long metaphor to compare his love to summer. Shakespeare also uses long metaphors in Romeo and Juliet, especially in the balcony scene, where Romeo compares Juliet to the sun.

Metaphysical conceit

The metaphysical conceit is an imaginative comparison that focuses on parts of an experience. A well-known example appears in John Donne's poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," where a couple separated from each other is compared to the legs of a compass. Unlike earlier comparisons, the metaphysical conceit is unusual and complex. Robert H. Ray called it a "long, unexpected, and clever analogy." This analogy is explained over several lines, sometimes the whole poem. Samuel Johnson, a poet and critic, disliked this style, pointing out that it uses "unrelated images" and finds "hidden similarities between things that seem different." He believed this technique forced "unrelated ideas together." This view was widely accepted until the early 1900s, when poets like T. S. Eliot reassessed seventeenth-century English poetry. Famous poets who used this style include John Donne, Andrew Marvell, and George Herbert.

Later examples

In the following passage from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," T. S. Eliot uses an extended metaphor. Characteristics like color, rubbing, and sleeping, which are usually linked to cats, are used to describe the fog.

In Joyce's Ulysses, there is an extended metaphor comparing its characters to those in the Ancient Greek story The Odyssey. Leopold Bloom is compared to Odysseus, Stephen Dedalus to Telemachus, and Molly Bloom to Penelope. Other characters, like the one-eyed "Cyclops," also share similar roles. At the time Ulysses was published, many readers did not notice this connection until T.S. Eliot wrote an essay explaining it.