Rebecca Mazzone

1. Poetry: Fact or Fiction? Rebecca Mazzone

2. Are these statements about poetry fact or fiction? • Poetry must rhyme. • There are no rules to poetry • Poetry is never difficult to read or understand. • All poems contain a deep meaning. • Poems are always beautiful. • The purpose of all poetry is to express an emotion.

3. Poetry must rhyme. FICTION: Poetry does not have to rhyme, but it can. Here is one example of a non-rhyming poem… “The Sun” When I see the sun And its beautiful brightness Surrounding me in the morning, I cannot help but smile.

4. There are no rules to poetry. FICTION: However, there is only one real rule to poetry. It is that poetry must have some sort of line break. This just means that it cannot look like a paragraph. For example… I was playing one day in the bright sunlight. VS. I was playing one day In the bright sunlight.

5. Poetry is never difficult to read or understand. FICTION: Although it usually depends on the poem and the person reading the poem, most would agree that some poems are difficult to read and/or understand.

6. All poems contain a deep meaning. FICTION: Some poems are simple and straightforward. “My Cat” I have a cat. My cat is very fat. His name is Pat. Pat sat on a rat. And now that rat is flat.

7. Poems are always beautiful. FICTION: Although beauty is a matter of opinion, not all poems are meant to be beautiful. For example… “Class Gas” by Kenn Nesbitt There's gas in the class; it's completely my fault, and smells like a chemical weapons assault. So try to remember this lesson from me: Don't take off your shoes in class after P.E. To read some more silly poetry, click here.

8. The purpose of all poetry is to express an emotion. FICTION: Poems can express an emotion, but they can also tell a story. For an example, click this button and read the poem on attached to the 4th statement.

9. How well do you know poetry? My predictions… Number of Statements Missed Number of students

10. Why poems are great…