The Use of White Space in Poems: Meaning and Affect Making Through Manipulation of Space in Contemporary Indian Poetry

Abstract

In poetry, line-breaks “shape meaning.” Poets use them to “encourage the interpretations they desire.” While several and often overlapping reasons may undergird the choice of a particular line-break in a poem, including “speed, sound, syntax, surprise, sense, [and] space”, this article explores the meaning-making and affectmaking practices through the manipulation of white space in poetry. The archive that it draws from is of contemporary Indian poetry, particularly the works of poets Arun Kolatkar (b. 1932), Agha Shahid Ali (b. 1949) and Aditi Rao (b. 1985). Furthering Wagner’s argument that white “space between and around lines create[s]…expectations that are fulfilled or countered by the text” and that organisation of space in poetry “create[s] a sense of drama,” this article studies the varying tactics through which contemporary Indian poets use the device of space to manage meaning and affect in their work.