I've always found it confusing how most writers break up their sentences into lines. Like for example in a poem, they write a sentence and then halfway through it they carry the sentence on into the next line? It always seems such a random way to structure the writing and I'm just wondering what the effect is supposed to be when writers do it?

It’s called enjambment, and it gives the poem’s lines more emphasis. For example, Bukowski once wrote:

“Love breaks my

bones and I

laugh.”

If he’d just written, “Love breaks my bones and I laugh,” without separating the sentence into lines, it would not have nearly the effect it does when separated. “Laugh” is placed on its own line to give more shock value to that action, to make it stand out more. If love hurt you terribly, you probably wouldn’t laugh, right?

That’s exactly why Bukowski must have put “laugh” onto its own line: to shock the readers and make them wonder why anyone, anyone would laugh after being heartbroken.

So it’s not a random way to structure the writing at all. It can actually be quite carefully thought-out. Separating a poem into lines causes tension and expectation, rather than revealing an idea, situation, or revelation all at once.

Did that help? I hope so.

Have a wonderful day!

xo