diff --git a/Parsedown.php b/Parsedown.php
index 186896c..f6662d6 100755
--- a/Parsedown.php
+++ b/Parsedown.php
@@ -63,6 +63,15 @@ class Parsedown
 
     protected $breaksEnabled;
 
+    function setLiteralBreaks($literalBreaks)
+    {
+        $this->literalBreaks = $literalBreaks;
+
+        return $this;
+    }
+
+    protected $literalBreaks;
+
     function setMarkupEscaped($markupEscaped)
     {
         $this->markupEscaped = $markupEscaped;
@@ -167,7 +176,7 @@ class Parsedown
 
         foreach ($lines as $line)
         {
-            if (chop($line) === '')
+            if ( ! $this->literalBreaks and chop($line) === '')
             {
                 if (isset($CurrentBlock))
                 {
@@ -230,7 +239,15 @@ class Parsedown
 
             # ~
 
-            $marker = $text[0];
+            if (isset($text[0]))
+            {
+                $marker = $text[0];
+            }
+            elseif ($this->literalBreaks)
+            {
+                $marker = '\n';
+                $text = '  ';
+            }
 
             # ~
 
diff --git a/test/ParsedownTest.php b/test/ParsedownTest.php
index bf40317..d92e4fc 100755
--- a/test/ParsedownTest.php
+++ b/test/ParsedownTest.php
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ class ParsedownTest extends TestCase
 
         $this->Parsedown->setSafeMode(substr($test, 0, 3) === 'xss');
         $this->Parsedown->setStrictMode(substr($test, 0, 6) === 'strict');
+        $this->Parsedown->setLiteralBreaks(substr($test, 0, 14) === 'literal_breaks');
 
         $actualMarkup = $this->Parsedown->text($markdown);
 
diff --git a/test/data/literal_breaks.html b/test/data/literal_breaks.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf9e273
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/data/literal_breaks.html
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+<p>first line
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+sixth line</p>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/data/literal_breaks.md b/test/data/literal_breaks.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b95a92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/data/literal_breaks.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+first line
+
+
+
+
+sixth line
\ No newline at end of file