PoetryFoundational
Line Break
The point where a poetic line ends.
Principle
A line break is a unit of meaning, timing, and pressure.
Takeaways
- It can create emphasis, hesitation, surprise, or double meaning.
- Lineation shapes how syntax is experienced.
- Bad line breaks merely chop prose into pieces.
Overview
A line break is one of poetry's basic formal decisions. It controls pause, visual shape, suspense, rhythm, and the relation between syntax and line.
Examples
- A line ends on a verb and suspends the object until the next line.
- A break isolates a word so the reader feels its double meaning.