Line length in poetry

[btrudo]

You can get short lines to read quickly or slowly. The same is true with any line. And you can modulate the speed of line even it's written in meter. Though in general, the number of words and syllables is highly related to the speed of the line. Fewer words and syllables are quicker. Still readers can read line speed dramatically different.

You really have to look at poems and see how the line changes with different breaks, rhyming, punctuation, stress relations, alliteration, etc. Examples are a must to really discuss this topic.