Line Breaks in Poetry

Among the many decisions that poets must make as they compose is where to break lines. The approaches generally run the gamut, from "wherever I feel like it" to "with utmost intent."

I think you need to be closer to the "utmost intent" camp if you want to be taken seriously. That's because line breaks are one of the more obvious tools in the poet's tool chest, and to ignore their potential usefulness is to shortchange the poetic form itself. After all, one of the things that separates poetry from prose is the line break, or rather the intentional line break, rather than the arbitrary one imposed by the right margin of a page in prose.

So what makes a line break in poetry intentional or effective rather than arbitrary? Well, the easy answer is "you do," but the more considered answer involves any number of techniques. Here are a few.

Enjambment
A line break should signal an ever-so-slight pause to the reader, and in that space, that pause, the poet can surprise the reader by playing with one meaning but then moving on to another in the very next line. Experienced poets do this at every opportunity—or at least often—as Amy Lowell does here in "Vernal Equinox":

The scent of hyacinths, like a pale mist, lies​

between me and my book​

The poet takes advantage, here, of breaking the syntax of a sentence in an opportune place—a place that allows the reader to form an impression that may then be expanded upon or entirely contradicted in the very next line. Surprise is something that keeps readers going, regardless of what they're reading, and poets have ample opportunity to surprise their readers through the use of enjambment.

Layering
Sometimes line breaks are good for layering meaning on the reader. Here's a snippet from one of @Julia Schott's poems:

did you ever have a boyfriend​

with a crooked​

bumpy​

cock​

​

i did​

The first line break ends with a complete thought—or question—and successive line breaks add layers of meaning and surprise. And then the solo stanza "i did" sets up the reader to want to read on. It's like the poet is saying, okay, here comes the story. It's hard not to continue.

Dual Meanings
Using line breaks to create dual meanings, however briefly, is another poetic technique that can be fun for both the poet and the reader. Take these two lines from @Leeza Simmons Sikes in the poem "Sugar Daddy Farts," for example:

he sucks​

on these little fucking lollipops​

Clearly the complete thought is "he sucks on these...lollipops," but of course putting "he sucks" on a line all its own first embeds  in the reader's mind that general notion of disapproval  that "he sucks" usually conveys.

Your Thoughts
Those are just a few line-break techniques. Which ones would you add?