- Witty and ingenious conceits
- Intellectual argumentation
- Unusual imagery
- Paradoxes
- Playful and surprising language
- Fusion of thought and feeling
- Extended metaphors
- Elaborate use of paradoxes and contrasts
- Deep exploration of human nature, including psychology and morality
- Use of everyday language in a poetic way
- Philosophical themes
- Often use of colloquial language
- Rich and complex imagery
- Use of puns, wordplay, and other rhetorical devices