Techniques and conceits

In literature, an elaborate and, more often then not, far-fetched image, that extends a metaphor into many layers of meaning.

Conceits thrive on the relation of supposedly impossible objects or emotions. Shakespeare's Richard II tries to compare his prison cell with the world. John Donne compares an icy garden to his frozen feelings after a separation from his lover.

Conceit also does refer to an artistic device that has become so widely used it is conventional; using blurred or out-of-focus filming techniques to show a memory sequence is a conceit; and referring to a pool of water as a mirror can be traced back through literature to Greek mythology, and is also known as a literary conceit.