You can spend all day trying to think of some universal truth to set down on paper, and some poets try that. Shakespeare knew that it's much easier to string together some words beginning with the same letters. It doesn't matter what it's about. It can be the exact depth in the sea to which a chap's corpse has sunk; hardly a matter of universal interest, but if you say, 'Full fathom five thy father lies', you will be considered the greatest poet who ever lived. Express precisely the same thought any other way - e.g. 'your father's corpse is 9.144 metres below sea level' - and you're just a coastguard with some bad news.- Mark Forsyth, The Elements of Eloquence
[with thanks to Sam Leigh, for the splendid - signed! - gift]
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