To determine whether a test to evaluate high school students' ability to understand and appreciate poetry could be constructed, two equivalent forms of a poetry test for grades 11 and 12 were developed using the recommendations of leading textbook authors, selected course content, anthologies, and literature and poetry tests. Aspects of poetry tested were (1) meaning--the ability to comprehend poetry; (2) structure--the ability to identify the technicalities of verse; and (3) discrimination--the ability to make value judgments about poetry. After trying out 75 sample items, the test was revised and 70 items were administered in two equivalent forms of a four-option multiple choice test to ninety-six 11th- and 12th-grade students in Kansas City, Missouri. Seventy such items were completed by at least 90% of the students, and the reliability and validity coefficients as well as indices of item difficulty and discrimination were within the ranges suggested by various authorities. Although the projected test seems feasible, it needs further testing under standardized conditions outside the Missouri school district. (Author/MF)