Line Breaks
If there is one thing that reflects a poet’s style, it is their usage (or non-usage) of line breaks. It may seem like a small factor, but line breaks can greatly influence the effectiveness and meaning of a poem. Which is why I found this discussion of line breaks over at Frontier Poetry thought-provoking. It discusses the three types of breaks and what goes into crafting a line of poetry. It is an interesting read.
https://www.frontierpoetry.com/2018/04/19/poetry-terms-the-three-lines/
If you really look at it, the only distinction between free verse and a prose poem are line breaks. Yet I often read poems where the line breaks don’t do anything that the syntax of the sentence doesn’t already do on its own. Maybe this is just my pet peeve, but I own it and feel the need to talk about it.
Readers hesitate at commas,
and stop briefly at periods.
They’ll even pause when a phrase finishes
before moving on to the next.
So if the line breaks just echo the pauses and stops already inherent in the text, what’s really the point of writing a poem instead of prose?
When it comes time to revise, I challenge myself to think about the line breaks. Sure, some breaks just come together with the ends of phrases and sentences and effectively reinforce those stopping points. But I also consider how line breaks can offer a counterpoint to my syntax, creating tension between the rhythm of my sentences and the rhythm of my lines.
I’ve been working on this personally, and I think it might be a path to better poetry.