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Writing: The Metaphysical Conceit and My Symbolism
11 years ago
Alrighty. This is a huge topic to tackle, so bear with me, alright? I'll try to keep it simple and short. ;)
An explanation of the Metaphysical Conceit:
What is the "metaphysical conceit" and why the heck are you obsessed with it?
Conceit here is not the personality trait. It's a literary trait instead. As I was taught in English 75 (R.I.P. 75 ;_;), a conceit is an "extended metaphor." And really, it's a nifty little thing with a massive impact. To properly appreciate a conceit, you have to extract the metaphor and reread in the lens of that metaphor. There will usually be two meanings, before-conceit and after-conceit.
Here's an example of a very well executed metaphysical conceit:
The Pulley
by George Herbert (1593–1633)
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
"Let us," said he, "pour on him all we can.
Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie,
Contract into a span."
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.
"For if I should," said he,
"Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.
"Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast."
So whoopty-doopity-doo, right? Well, this poem has a conceit to it. And it's the title. And it will explain everything.
Moving through this poem, we see that God makes man and bestows pleasure upon him. He puts all the pleasures and beauty, and finally, Himself at the end of it all. The conceit, as is typical with all metaphysical conceit poems, is revealed at the end: "If goodness lead him not, yet weariness may toss him to my breast."
My response to this poem was, "This sounds like hell." And I didn't speak up in class because I didn't want to be labeled "the religious kid" but meh. But I was right.
What's a "pulley?" It's a torture device.
"If goodness lead him not, yet weariness my toss him to my breast."
I write in conceits. Every bit of fiction I've ever written has been under some kind of metaphor that points to a Criticism or some philosophy. Even Istana and Warriors of Chrysaal are not free from conceit. Frankly, the conceit is what a lot of readers tend to miss or get wrong. It's not easy at all and sometimes a metaphor can be too well hidden to be properly pulled out. Sometimes this conceit is evident in paintings, even. It may look like people laying in a park, but it may really have been about classism. Sometimes it's just very poorly portrayed. (Other times, it needs to be studied out.)
So after I write a story, I tend to go back and make an annotated edition to explain the symbols present.
And speaking of Symbols, I'll now move on to those.
What symbols do you use, and why so many? ;_;
Well, I love symbols. It's one of the ways I can attach meaning to something. Why so many? It's because I believe everything has meaning so maybe it's possible that almost anything has a meaning. >_> But no, the blue curtains are blue because they happen to be blue unless they're blue because of something else. Most symbolism in my writing is based around people. Seek for the explanations related to a character regarding items. Example:
The curtains are violet in Veikko's home. Holy carp, yes. Purple is a common Terminan culture color, and if you've ever been inside Veikko's home, you know that it's super-Terminan in there. So Terminan it almost hurts. (Why violet? See footnote A.)
If these curtains are violet because Veikko wanted them to be, other than to match the color scheme, then they'd be a symbol. But they're like that because Veikko was like "Meh. Purple's not a bad color." However, look at his arras and then there's two layers of symbolism: Limited and Applied (these are my terms). Limited symbols would be the things on the arras as they are meant inside the universe, while Applied symbols are symbols that are used to have a meaning to us on the outside of the story, regarding the story. Symbols can be both Limited and Applied. I tend to use symbols that meet both requirements.
So I take a bucket of liquid symbolism and just pour it over the story. To start noticing my brand of symbolism, start looking at things as they are related to characters and as they are related to society and whatever transcendental metaphor may be present.
A - The curtains being violet is not a symbol. Purple, however, IS a symbol in Terminan culture. Just like it is for us, purple/violet is a royal color. Since Terminan culture is seated on Trinism, where Trinus (God) is the King. The ruler. In fact, the whole Terminan color scheme: blood red, warm purple, gold, soft blue, and white (white is the rarest), is based around Trinism. Blood red is sacrifice, purple is royalty, gold is wealth in spirit (NOT possessions), blue is water/life, and white is purity.
An explanation of the Metaphysical Conceit:
What is the "metaphysical conceit" and why the heck are you obsessed with it?
Conceit here is not the personality trait. It's a literary trait instead. As I was taught in English 75 (R.I.P. 75 ;_;), a conceit is an "extended metaphor." And really, it's a nifty little thing with a massive impact. To properly appreciate a conceit, you have to extract the metaphor and reread in the lens of that metaphor. There will usually be two meanings, before-conceit and after-conceit.
Here's an example of a very well executed metaphysical conceit:
The Pulley
by George Herbert (1593–1633)
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
"Let us," said he, "pour on him all we can.
Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie,
Contract into a span."
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.
"For if I should," said he,
"Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.
"Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast."
So whoopty-doopity-doo, right? Well, this poem has a conceit to it. And it's the title. And it will explain everything.
Moving through this poem, we see that God makes man and bestows pleasure upon him. He puts all the pleasures and beauty, and finally, Himself at the end of it all. The conceit, as is typical with all metaphysical conceit poems, is revealed at the end: "If goodness lead him not, yet weariness may toss him to my breast."
My response to this poem was, "This sounds like hell." And I didn't speak up in class because I didn't want to be labeled "the religious kid" but meh. But I was right.
What's a "pulley?" It's a torture device.
"If goodness lead him not, yet weariness my toss him to my breast."
I write in conceits. Every bit of fiction I've ever written has been under some kind of metaphor that points to a Criticism or some philosophy. Even Istana and Warriors of Chrysaal are not free from conceit. Frankly, the conceit is what a lot of readers tend to miss or get wrong. It's not easy at all and sometimes a metaphor can be too well hidden to be properly pulled out. Sometimes this conceit is evident in paintings, even. It may look like people laying in a park, but it may really have been about classism. Sometimes it's just very poorly portrayed. (Other times, it needs to be studied out.)
So after I write a story, I tend to go back and make an annotated edition to explain the symbols present.
And speaking of Symbols, I'll now move on to those.
What symbols do you use, and why so many? ;_;
Well, I love symbols. It's one of the ways I can attach meaning to something. Why so many? It's because I believe everything has meaning so maybe it's possible that almost anything has a meaning. >_> But no, the blue curtains are blue because they happen to be blue unless they're blue because of something else. Most symbolism in my writing is based around people. Seek for the explanations related to a character regarding items. Example:
The curtains are violet in Veikko's home. Holy carp, yes. Purple is a common Terminan culture color, and if you've ever been inside Veikko's home, you know that it's super-Terminan in there. So Terminan it almost hurts. (Why violet? See footnote A.)
If these curtains are violet because Veikko wanted them to be, other than to match the color scheme, then they'd be a symbol. But they're like that because Veikko was like "Meh. Purple's not a bad color." However, look at his arras and then there's two layers of symbolism: Limited and Applied (these are my terms). Limited symbols would be the things on the arras as they are meant inside the universe, while Applied symbols are symbols that are used to have a meaning to us on the outside of the story, regarding the story. Symbols can be both Limited and Applied. I tend to use symbols that meet both requirements.
So I take a bucket of liquid symbolism and just pour it over the story. To start noticing my brand of symbolism, start looking at things as they are related to characters and as they are related to society and whatever transcendental metaphor may be present.
A - The curtains being violet is not a symbol. Purple, however, IS a symbol in Terminan culture. Just like it is for us, purple/violet is a royal color. Since Terminan culture is seated on Trinism, where Trinus (God) is the King. The ruler. In fact, the whole Terminan color scheme: blood red, warm purple, gold, soft blue, and white (white is the rarest), is based around Trinism. Blood red is sacrifice, purple is royalty, gold is wealth in spirit (NOT possessions), blue is water/life, and white is purity.
