'A piece of poetry'

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Good evening everyone,

I was once told that it’s incorrect to write “a piece of poetry.” (I mean that the wording is incorrect, not that it’d be wrong to write a poem.) It just happens that Mark Twain uses the expression in his legendary Huck Finn. And this isn’t found in Jim’s speech or anything but in the narrative. It’d be very interesting to hear what you think of this: is Mark Twain erring or is ‘a piece of poetry’ a cast-into-piece expression?

2

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I am not familar with the phrase, ‘a cast-into-piece expression’, but I find nothing wrong with the phrase, ‘a piece of poetry’.
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3

Hi,

And thanks for your reply. This just proves that different experts on English have different opinions when it comes to what they consider ‘proper English’.

Regards.

4

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Sorry, but I fail to see who the other ‘expert’ is. What did that expert offer in lieu of ‘piece’?
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5

Piece of poetry is rather common in English,it’s the same as poem :DPlease give an example where "cast into piece"is used.Please,follow your topic "cast…

6

Pamela,

I thought so myself but it happens that a rather experienced expert on English disagreed.

Regards.