2. No serious poem rhymes. While many readers of poetry expect a poem to rhyme, many writers of poetry today seem to believe that good poetry cannot rhyme. Again, maybe this is because of the doggerel nursery rhymes of our childhood. One just has to ensure that his or her rhyme scheme is not forced or simplistic. It should never be tiring to the reader or annoying to the ear. Keep in mind that there is more forms of rhyme than the traditional (masculine, feminine, partial, internal, sight, rich).

3. All poems have a profound message or moral. A lot of people seem to have this misconception. Perhaps it is because, traditionally, a great number of poems were written with a religious theme. Although all good poetry has meaning, not all poems were written with Aesop in mind. When a reader searches in vain for a message that does not exist, he will never understand the poem's true meaning. Don’t confuse moral with theme. While all poems have a theme (the abstraction of concrete ideas), not all have a hidden message.

4. Poetry is a puzzle. This one goes along with number three. A great number of readers of poetry make this mistake, including an old professor of mine. Although the meaning of a poem is usually not obvious, it is not always meant to be a puzzle that must be solved. It is the nature of poetry to sometimes be obscure, which is why you should always read a poem several times. A poet expects his reader to know certain things. For example, a poem maybe written during the Second World War, but poet does not explicitly state this fact. Instead, he expects the reader to know this and read with it in mind.

5. The "I" in a poem is the poet. For some reason, many publishers are turned off by poems written from a first person perspective (i.e., Dramatic Monologue). They, as do many readers, wrongly assume that the poem is self-serving or autobiographical. The speaker of a poem is not necessarily the poet.

6. Poems are only written about "poetic" things. A multitude of potential readers of poetry is not interested because they believe that all poems are about so-called "poetic" things: Love, peace, harmony, nature, religion, etc. They are missing out on a very rich world because of this misconception. My favorite poem, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, is an example.

7. A poem should be chock full of literary conventions (imagery, allusions, symbols, allegories, etc.). New writers of poetry seem to believe that their poems must be written in some obscure, highbrow language. It must contain a vast assortment of adjectives and literary references. This often leads to a confusing mass of fluff with no meaning what so ever. Never use an allusion just to show how smart you are. Keep in mind these tools should be functional as well as decorative. Also keep in mind the connotative meaning of words as well as their denotative meaning.

8. Free verse and blank verse are the same. This is far from true. Free verse is poetry not written in the traditional meters, while blank verse has a regular metrical pattern, which is usually iambic pentameter. Though a poem has no meter, is should still have rhythm. A poem should always flow. If you find yourself stumbling when reading your poem aloud, try rewriting it. There are, of course, always exceptions in poetry.

9. A poem is bound to the same rules of grammar as prose. This should go without saying, but poetry is not bound by the same rules of grammar as prose. A poet has free rein over a language to express himself. This is where we get the term poetic license.

10. A poem should follow all the rules and conventions of good poetry. What rules? Please see misconception number nine!