What Does The Poem A Conceit By Maya Angelou Mean?

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What Does The Poem A Conceit By Maya Angelou Mean?

2 Answers

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Answer 1

It seems to me that the poem is a plea for real love rather than words (or even poems) about it - for instance, "touching words" is contrasted with "give me your hand" - real physical contact.
You probably know, but a conceit in this sense is a witty or fanciful idea. That could apply to the idea of writing a poem that asks to get away from poetry into reality.

I found some comments herethat may give you further ideas.

Answer 2

I think the central idea is that real, physical human contact is more important, more precious than words and ideas. There is a kind of joke or paradox here (one meaning of the word "conceit" is a kind of quirky or fanciful idea) because of course this celebration of "real" life and love is expressed through the distant form of a poem! So the idea is both very simple and complicated.