The New Zealand Council for Educational Research conducted a study to determine students' perceptions of and attitudes toward poetry instruction. A group of 186 fifth form (eleventh grade) students and 56 fifth form English teachers were queried in the following areas: the point of studying poetry; the "really important things" about a poem; the kinds of student poems that are preferred by teachers; and the reasons for memorizing poetry. It was found that students believed that poetry was taught and assigned to be memorized for practical reasons, while teachers advanced such reasons as aesthetic enrichment, intrinsic ideas, and personal satisfaction. Students and teachers were agreed that the aim of poetry instruction was to determine the meaning of poems. Students perceived teachers as valuing technical correctness and self-revelation, while teachers indicated that they were interested in such qualities as originality and imaginative language. Considerable disparity was found to exist between the perceptions of teachers regarding poetry instruction and the beliefs of pupils about such instruction. Classroom recommendations include greater teacher interest in individual students' reactions to poetry, linking the study of poetry with students' writing, and greater teacher sensitivity to students' feelings about their own poetry. (DF)