Reading a Metaphysical Conceit

The idea

A metaphysical conceit is an argument, so read it as one. First, find the two things being compared and notice how unlike they are: lovers and a drawing compass, a flea and a marriage bed. Second, list the points of likeness the poet actually claims, because the conceit works by several precise parallels, not one loose resemblance. Third, follow the argument the comparison serves: Donne uses the compass to prove that separation cannot divide true lovers, and the flea to argue that yielding costs nothing. Fourth, notice the tone, which is often witty, playful or provocative even when the subject is serious. Fifth, name what the poem concludes. In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," the fixed foot that leans after the moving one and makes the circle complete concludes that her constancy ensures his return, so the answer to what the conceit illustrates is constancy, not distance.