This can be set using TeX's paragraph settings as follows:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\newcommand*{\justlastragged}{%
\leftskip=0pt plus 1fil
\rightskip=-\leftskip
\parfillskip=\leftskip
\parindent=0pt}
\begin{document}
\justlastragged
This is a short poem line to see\\
what is this?
\lipsum[3]
\end{document}
The image below shows the result.
To enter the break and have an automatic "[" inserted use the following short definition:
\def\c[{\\\relax[$\!$}
You can use it as follows:
\justlastragged
This is a short poem line to see\c[
what is this?
Edit:
A different method closer to what the OP wants:
\documentclass{article}
\def\X{\rightskip0pt \leftskip=0pt \parfillskip=0pt plus 1.0fil}
\long\def\B#1\par{%
\par
\rightskip0pt plus 1pt
\leftskip=0pt plus 2fill
\parfillskip=0pt [#1{\par}\X}
\parindent0pt
\begin{document}
\hsize3in
Another short line to test what is happening \B this is a test
Some more test to just see what is happening here\B Testing another stanza
Testing etc
\end{document}
Ultimately the best method might be the one commented by Barbara, where one makes the space character active, but that is a job for after Christmas! The second method works well, but one has to be careful with the \hsize
to get it to the right value to make the poems look right.
You can box the contents of the widest element and use this to width-adjust the shorter one:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}% http://ctan.org/pkg/fancyhdr
\newsavebox{\myheadbox}% Heading storage box
\pagestyle{fancy}
\rhead{\textsc{Tutorial\\The periodic table}}
\lhead{\textsc{\savebox{\myheadbox}{University of somewhere}\makebox[\wd\myheadbox][r]{My city}\\\usebox{\myheadbox}}}
\cfoot{\thepage}
\begin{document}
hello
\end{document}
\myheadbox
contains the "University of somewhere" (in the appropriate font, \scshape
). Then, "My city" is r
ight-aligned in a \makebox
of width \wd\myheadbox
(width of \myheadbox
).
Best Answer
The
gmverse
package does that: it has a\versehandright
declaration that is executed by default, and, if the package is loaded withsquarebr
option, a\versehandrightbr
declaration is available, that begins the second line with a square bracket as is usual in french poetry.Here is an example of what we can obtain according to traditional French typography with the first page of André Breton's poem Pleine marge. It combines the use of the
verse
andgmverse
packages:\end{document}