1. Using white space and linebreaks

2. What is…
White space: how a poem is arranged on the page, including line breaks, page layout/format, and spacing Line break: where the author choose to end the line Caesura: dramatic pause, usually in the middle of a line and marked with a dash

3. Why do poets use white space and line breaks?
to make certain words stand out
to make us pause after significant words
to make us stop and think
because it’s the main idea

4. Where do we make line breaks?
Line breaks serve an important purpose in poetry.
The end of a line signifies a pause –
short when there’s no punctuation,
a little longer when a comma occurs at the end of a line,
and longest of all for end punctuation such as periods or question marks.
Where you locate their line breaks is where their readers will place the hanging emphasis of pause; line breaks control poems’ sound and meaning.

5. Examples

6. This Is Just To Say
By William Carlos Williams,
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

7. We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks, 1917 – 2000
THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL. 
We real cool. We
Left school. We 
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We 
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We 
Jazz June. We
Die soon.

8. Luciérnages (Fireflies)
by José Juan Tablada

9. Fear smells like the skin of burnt marshmallows, smells like burning hair, tastes like chalk and Robitussin and vinegar, sounds like thunder (one-one-thousand- BOOM) away, feels like numbed cold fingers, feels like pressure inside my lungs, feels like my body’s not my body, make my body disappear, fear

10. Fear Smells like The skin of burnt marshmallows, Smells like burning hair, Tastes like chalk and Robitussin and Vinegar, Sounds like thunder (one-one-thousand- BOOM) away, Feels like numbed cold fingers, Feels like pressure inside my lungs, Feels like my body’s not my body, Make my body disappear,

11. Fear Smells like the skin of burnt marshmallows, smells like burning hair, Tastes like chalk and Robitussin and vinegar, Sounds like thunder one-one-thousand-BOOM away, Feels like numbed cold fingers, Feels like pressure inside my lungs, Feels like my body’s not my body, make my body disappear, Heather Benson

12. The Feeling Poem Line one: Name an emotion
Line two: “Smells like. . .”
Line three: “Tastes like. . .”
Line four: “Sounds like. . .”
Line five: “Feels like ”
Line six: “Feels like. . .”
Line seven: “Feels like. . .”
Line eight: Name the emotion