I remembered from high school a literary term called a “conceit,” but had forgotten what it meant.
The dictionary definition is "that a “conceit” is “an elaborate or strained metaphor.”
Any examples come to mind?
The closest I could think of offhand was Sandburg’s “The Fog,” where the cat is used as an extended metaphor for the fog.
I had never heard of this term (but this is not surprising, given the lack of english courses I took). A search popped this up as an example of a conceit. The dictionary where this came from defined a conceit as “an elaborate metaphor, often strained or far-fetched, in which the subject is compared with a simpler analogue usually chosen from nature or a familiar context.” And now the example:
My Galley by Sir Thomas Wyatt
My galley chargèd with forgetfulness
Thorough sharp seas, in winter nights doth pass
'Tween rock and rock; and eke mine enemy, alas,
That is my lord, steereth with cruelness,
And every oar a thought in readiness,
As though that death were light in such a case.
An endless wind doth tear the sail apace
Of forcèd sighs and trusty fearfulness.
A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain,
Hath done the wearied cords great hinderance;
Wreathèd with error and eke with ignorance.
The stars be hid that led me to this pain.
Drownèd is reason that should me consort,
And I remain despairing of the port.
It seems to me that your choice of Sandburg’s The Fog would apply also, but subtleties of poetry often pass me by. I think I’m a passenger on that galley.
I remember studying the metaphysical poems of 17th century England, particularly by John Donne. There are several of such poems about objects, never mentioned in the poem, that would be left for the reader to figure out. I seem to remember that one of these poems was used in the movie Daytrippers. The conceit was a compass.
MR