(I should probably mention, although it could be seen as more of a warning, that I'm very fond of alliteration. And after recently watching Singing in the Rain, I'm in an alliterating mood. "'Round the rocks the rugged rascal ran..." )
(I'll get back on topic now.)
I've been reading Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness during my lunch breaks over the last few days. He has a knack for setting and keeping the atmosphere of his story. As the reader, you turn the page with the same oppressive trepidation that Captian Marlow has as he experiences the African interior. Then, in the middle of all this dark dreariness, this line appears:
"...his head was as bald as the palm of my hand; but his hair in falling seemed to have stuck to his chin, and had prospered int he new locality, for his beard hung down to his waist."
If that isn't the cleverest way to describe a bald man with an enourmous beard, I don't know what is. Every time I see a bald guy with a long beard, I'm going to think that his hair simply evacuated from his head to his jawline and took up residence quite nicely. And I never would have thought of beards in relation to baldness if it weren't for Joseph Conrad.
Great writers can do that.
They take something ordinary, and with a few scribbles of their pen, turn it into something extraordinary.
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Do share your thoughts - I enjoy reading them :)