As curricular content, poetry, and the technical poetics used to write poetry have had an ambiguous status. The right things are said about the importance of poetry, but it has not taken a prominent place in most English curricula. Poetry is the victim of obscuring stereotypes, and it is often relegated to the sidelines of education, to be read superficially if a free day occurs. The problem for gifted children is that poetic techniques are a central component of great prose; gifted students who miss poetics miss novels as well. Poetics is critical intellectual content for gifted children.