The White Space in Poetry
In the beginning, in margins and in-between
Writing always begins with white space — a blank page or word document. I like to think of it as a place — a silent world where stories, ideas and characters live until they are pulled into existence by our words, sentences and stanzas. A place that remains even after we cleave that blank page with lines of poetry.
White space is where that silent world carries on and characters continue their lives in pauses, in margins and in between lines. It’s the unwritten words — the untold story our strategic line breaks can conjure. If you look for it, a good portion of meaning can be found outside of the poem.
Line breaks and white space work together to enhance poetry. Keep in mind there are two types of poetic line breaks: end-stopped and enjambed. A line does not necessarily mean a complete sentence. A line can also be fragments where a sentence is split into two or more lines. Those line breaks are called enjambment. It’s where end words dangle at the edge of that silent world — the margin. With careful wording, we can suggest to our readers that there is more than what meets the eye, as we lead them into the white space and allow their thoughts to linger there.
The following is an example of how breaking lines at different words can change the way a poem is read. I took a stanza from a ballad I wrote, then changed the line breaks, creating free form with white space. For fun, you could try this with a poem of your own.
(The original: precise syllable count, rhythm and rhyme, predictable line breaks)
The sky turned black as thunder cracked,
trees writhed and heaved a breath
the wind possessed with howling ghosts
their moans foretelling death.
(Same words with enjambment and white space: creates interruption in rhythm,
rhymes are somewhat absorbed, layers of meaning are added)
The sky turned black
as thunder crackedㅤ trees
writhed and heaved
a breath ㅤ the wind ㅤpossessed with howling
ghosts ㅤ
their moans ㅤ
foretelling
death.
There are no set rules on how long a reader should pause when coming to the end of an enjambed line. Perhaps not as long as a period or a comma, but it should slow the reader down. Ending those lines with solid, stand-alone words invites a slightly longer pause because they can stand strong against the margin. End words such as — and, or, so, at, of, to, on, an, the, etc. — tend to sink away into the white silence, spurring the reader’s eyes to fly to the next line without pause or thought.
There are several reasons for making use of line breaks and the white space surrounding poetry:
— to imply the possibility of something more lurking
— to express a silence or pause, allowing thoughts to breathe
— as an alternative to punctuation
—to pace the reading of the poem
— to cause another dimension in meaning
— to create shapes in concrete poetry
— to fulfill the requirements of form poetry
— sometimes a space can be a syllable of rhythm
— keep in mind, not all blanks have a meaning
The length of lines, as well as the intended or unintended placement of white space, determines the overall shape of a poem whether it be structured stanzas, free style, or concrete.
This poem is an example of white space around form poetry. It’s called a Rictameter and is written to a set of rules, to create its shape. (a nine-line syllabic poem that starts with two syllables, with each line increasing by increments of two up to ten syllables in the fifth line, then decreasing by two, ending with the same two syllable word as the first line.)
This second example is a free style concrete poem, with an acrostic swizzle stick inside. In this case, white space is used only to create the design. There is the possibility of a story in the white space, however, it was not purposely written with that in mind.
Understanding the benefits of white space in poetry can take readers to a new level of comprehension and also enhance creativity for writers.
ㅤㅤIf you aren’t utilizing the white space ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤin your poetry, maybe you should be.
