White space (the parts of the page without words) is important in poetry. It tells a reader where larger pauses are needed (stanza breaks, extra space between words). It can enhance/reflect subject matter (a poem about absence having barren swaths of paper). It can even showcase mood.
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But lots of poets use white space wrong (though most offenders aren't necessarily beginners).
It shouldn't be used to artificially lengthen a work. Poems don't have to be epics to make an impression. If a bigger payment from a literary magazine is the goal, the ones paying for poems per line (most don't) don't generally count blank lines.
Some poets think odd spacing makes a piece avant-garde and, while it can be used to experiment, randomly chopping up lines and flinging them willy-nilly on the page doesn't make anything edgy or interesting. There should always be some coherent reason for the positions of words, even if the reason isn't apparent to readers.
A handful of poets are guilty of using white space to give a false sense of variation. Instead of attempts at different forms or subjects (or different angles on a subject), these scribes chop up or stretch out works they've completed multiple times. They are either afraid, too in love with one particular idea, or are in a serious rut.
~~~~~
Remember poets and poetry-lovers: The poem should be benefited by the form, not brutalized to fit it.
~~~~
But lots of poets use white space wrong (though most offenders aren't necessarily beginners).
It shouldn't be used to artificially lengthen a work. Poems don't have to be epics to make an impression. If a bigger payment from a literary magazine is the goal, the ones paying for poems per line (most don't) don't generally count blank lines.
Some poets think odd spacing makes a piece avant-garde and, while it can be used to experiment, randomly chopping up lines and flinging them willy-nilly on the page doesn't make anything edgy or interesting. There should always be some coherent reason for the positions of words, even if the reason isn't apparent to readers.
A handful of poets are guilty of using white space to give a false sense of variation. Instead of attempts at different forms or subjects (or different angles on a subject), these scribes chop up or stretch out works they've completed multiple times. They are either afraid, too in love with one particular idea, or are in a serious rut.
~~~~~
Remember poets and poetry-lovers: The poem should be benefited by the form, not brutalized to fit it.
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