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Visual break

Structure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A line or stanza break that creates a visual pause or separation on the page

Detailed Definition
A visual break uses white space, line gaps, margin shifts, or typographic interruption to create a pause, rupture, or shift in a poem; it functions as a silent caesura, signaling emotional breaks, temporal leaps, or thematic transitions, and is essential in free verse for structuring thought without traditional punctuation or stanza breaks.
Example
Example in poetry:
A stanza ending abruptly with no punctuation, followed by white space; A line break mid-sentence: "I never meant to— / [visual gap] / hurt you"; A poem with a full blank line between stanzas for dramatic pause; A break where the next stanza begins on the far right margin; A gap representing unspeakable trauma
Additional Notes
A visual break uses white space, line gaps, or margin shifts to create pause or rupture; students should analyze how breaks affect pacing and meaning—e.g., silence after trauma; linked to "temporal break" and "shifting break"; essential in free verse.
Also Known As
typographic pause white space caesura silent division typographic break Visual enjambment
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