As mentioned in the "pacing: line and stanza breaks" chapter, white space can help slow down the pacing of the poem. However, it can also be used for emphasis. Let's go over a few of the ways in which white space can be used.
1) Line breaks
Line breaks will influence how short or long your lines will be. If they're very short, you'll have a lot of white space to the right of your page (if your poem is left-aligned). Some poems have no line breaks at all and are just a big block of text. This can be used to portray a sense of suffocation, anger (the lack of line/stanza breaks and punctuation makes it read very fast, like someone is arguing/ranting), and other emotions.
2) Stanza breaks
We've already talked about how stanza breaks can influence the pacing of your poems, so let's talk about how they can instead provide emphasis. If you have a poem with stanzas that average 4-5 lines per stanza and you're consistent with that structure throughout your poem, there won't be much emphasis. Since the structure is consistent, nothing in particular stands out from the poem. However, if you added in a stanza that is only 1 line long, you'll create emphasis on that one stanza because that stanza breaks your structure, which helps it stand out from the rest of your poem.
3) Using the "Tab" key
Another way to create emphasis is by using the tab key to add white space within a line. My poem suffocating yellow plays around with white space by using the tab key and stanza breaks (see below).
Example: "you, rich in gold,
feet--roots shoving deeper,
pushing against icy walls
even those who filled
the emptiness within
your concrete cave
die, verdant wisps
choking--
for--
space
till even the beady bodies beneath scuttle
from you faster, faster, faster--
your fingers a dandelion spilling above"
Wattpad is limiting when it comes to using the tab key, so I had to use the space button instead to try and portray that same formatting I originally used for the poem.
