diff --git a/Parsedown.php b/Parsedown.php
index f5dd0fa15..f6daad2e3 100644
--- a/Parsedown.php
+++ b/Parsedown.php
@@ -515,10 +515,10 @@ protected function blockList($Line)
                 ),
             );
 
-            if($name === 'ol') 
+            if($name === 'ol')
             {
                 $listStart = stristr($matches[0], '.', true);
-                
+
                 if($listStart !== '1')
                 {
                     $Block['element']['attributes'] = array('start' => $listStart);
@@ -683,7 +683,7 @@ protected function blockMarkup($Line)
             return;
         }
 
-        if (preg_match('/^<(\w*)(?:[ ]*'.$this->regexHtmlAttribute.')*[ ]*(\/)?>/', $Line['text'], $matches))
+        if (preg_match('/^<[\/]?+(\w*)(?:[ ]*'.$this->regexHtmlAttribute.')*[ ]*(\/)?>/', $Line['text'], $matches))
         {
             $element = strtolower($matches[1]);
 
@@ -694,71 +694,20 @@ protected function blockMarkup($Line)
 
             $Block = array(
                 'name' => $matches[1],
-                'depth' => 0,
                 'markup' => $Line['text'],
             );
 
-            $length = strlen($matches[0]);
-
-            $remainder = substr($Line['text'], $length);
-
-            if (trim($remainder) === '')
-            {
-                if (isset($matches[2]) or in_array($matches[1], $this->voidElements))
-                {
-                    $Block['closed'] = true;
-
-                    $Block['void'] = true;
-                }
-            }
-            else
-            {
-                if (isset($matches[2]) or in_array($matches[1], $this->voidElements))
-                {
-                    return;
-                }
-
-                if (preg_match('/<\/'.$matches[1].'>[ ]*$/i', $remainder))
-                {
-                    $Block['closed'] = true;
-                }
-            }
-
             return $Block;
         }
     }
 
     protected function blockMarkupContinue($Line, array $Block)
     {
-        if (isset($Block['closed']))
+        if (isset($Block['closed']) or isset($Block['interrupted']))
         {
             return;
         }
 
-        if (preg_match('/^<'.$Block['name'].'(?:[ ]*'.$this->regexHtmlAttribute.')*[ ]*>/i', $Line['text'])) # open
-        {
-            $Block['depth'] ++;
-        }
-
-        if (preg_match('/(.*?)<\/'.$Block['name'].'>[ ]*$/i', $Line['text'], $matches)) # close
-        {
-            if ($Block['depth'] > 0)
-            {
-                $Block['depth'] --;
-            }
-            else
-            {
-                $Block['closed'] = true;
-            }
-        }
-
-        if (isset($Block['interrupted']))
-        {
-            $Block['markup'] .= "\n";
-
-            unset($Block['interrupted']);
-        }
-
         $Block['markup'] .= "\n".$Line['body'];
 
         return $Block;
diff --git a/test/data/self-closing_html.md b/test/data/self-closing_html.md
index acb20327d..61d16a39b 100644
--- a/test/data/self-closing_html.md
+++ b/test/data/self-closing_html.md
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 <hr>
+
 paragraph
 <hr/>
+
 paragraph
 <hr />
+
 paragraph
 <hr class="foo" id="bar" />
+
 paragraph
 <hr class="foo" id="bar"/>
+
 paragraph
 <hr class="foo" id="bar" >
+
 paragraph
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/data/sparse_html.html b/test/data/sparse_html.html
index 9e896274c..6e0213fab 100644
--- a/test/data/sparse_html.html
+++ b/test/data/sparse_html.html
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 <div>
 line 1
-
-line 2
-line 3
-
-line 4
+<p>line 2
+line 3</p>
+<p>line 4</p>
 </div>
\ No newline at end of file