Poetry is an almost paradoxical profession. Poets often say that they aim to enclose the abstract in the concrete, to describe without adjectives or adverbs, and to state concepts as concisely as possible. To meet these formidable challenges, they have several important literary devices at their disposal, one of which is the conceit. Commonly defined as an elaborate metaphor, the conceit often allows poets to capture complex ideas by comparing them to images closer to readers' everyday experiences. If the concept that the poet wishes to illustrate falls within theological or philosophical domains, figurative language like vanity can save the poet from didacticism and opacity. “On a Drop of Dew,” a short poem by the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell, employs conceit for this very purpose. Marvell's use of the conceit allows him to convey the Christian story of the human soul in his poem with subtlety and simplicity, from its birth in heaven to its placement on earth and its eventual reunion with God in heaven. As part of his conceit, Marvell spends the first half of "On a Drop of Dew" telling a simple story from nature, the story of a drop of dew resting on a flower. Without initially revealing what the dew drop represents, he traces its "life" from the moment it was "poured from the bosom of the morning" (line 2) to the moment when "the heavens l 'exhale again' (18). He also integrates personification into the conceit, describing how the dewdrop “wounds” the flower on which it rests and regrets its separation from the sky (9). In the way the dew pearls on the petal, it lends emotion and motif: “careless of its new home”, the drop folds in on itself, hoping to capture a part of the sky in the middle of the paper. .... miraculous for the nature of the soul. Many people find theology a very esoteric field of study, and Christian doctrine regarding the life of the soul can seem quite difficult to understand for both non-Christians and Christians. The conceit of “A Drop of Dew,” which uses common images and processes directly from the natural world, allows Marvell to encapsulate a commonly held view of the soul's journey with creativity and intelligence. Its symbolic elements also help Marvell avoid seeming preachy or pedantic. It is this mastery of conceit and other devices of figurative language, demonstrated with such delicacy and emotion in “On a Drop of Dew,” that has made Marvell an enduring figure in the world of poetry. Works Cited Marvell, Andrew. “On a drop of dew.” “To his shy mistress” and other poems. Ed. Paul Negri. Mineola: Dover, 1997.