Code from Tutorial: Methods for Positioning Text (http://coronalabs.com/blog/2014/02/11/tutorial-methods-for-positioning-text/)

1.lua

local myText = display.newText( "Hello World", 200, 200, native.systemFont, 16 )

2.lua

local myText = display.newText( "Hello World", 0, 0, native.systemFont, 16 )
myText:setFillColor( 0, 0, 0 )
myText.anchorX = 0
myText.x = 10
myText.y = 100

3.lua

local options = {
   text = "Hello World",
   x = display.contentCenterX,
   y = display.contentCenterY,
   fontSize = 24,
   width = 200,
   height = 0,
   align = "left"
}

local textBox = display.newText( options )
textBox:setFillColor( 0, 0, 0 )

4.lua

local myText = [[This is a long, multi-line string where we are randomly
inserting some blank
lines
of text.]]

local options = {
   text = myText,
   x = display.contentCenterX,
   y = display.contentCenterY,
   width = 200,
   height = 300,
   fontSize = 24,
   align = "left"
}

local textField = display.newText( options )
textField:setFillColor( 0, 0, 0 )

5.lua

local myText = [[This is a long, multi-line string where we are randomly
inserting some blank
lines
of text.]]

local options = {
   text = myText,
   x = display.contentCenterX,
   y = display.contentCenterY,
   width = 200,
   height = 300,
   fontSize = 24,
   align = "center"
}

--Output the text box with the specified options
local textField = display.newText( options )
textField:setFillColor( 0, 0, 0 )

6.lua

local myText = [[This is a long, multi-line string where we are randomly
inserting some blank
lines
of text.]]

local options = {
   text = myText,
   x = display.contentCenterX,
   y = display.contentCenterY,
   width = 200,
   height = 300,
   fontSize = 24,
   align = "right"
}

--Output the text box with the specified options
local textField = display.newText( options )
textField:setFillColor( 0, 0, 0 )

7.lua

longString = [[This is a really
long string
with multiple
line breaks.]]

--OR...
longString = "This is a really\nlong string\nwith multiple\nline breaks."