diff --git a/Basics/Exercise/13_read_write_files/exercise_1_poem.py b/Basics/Exercise/13_read_write_files/exercise_1_poem.py
index b4470301..12bf2196 100644
--- a/Basics/Exercise/13_read_write_files/exercise_1_poem.py
+++ b/Basics/Exercise/13_read_write_files/exercise_1_poem.py
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 
 with open("poem.txt","r") as f:
     for line in f:
-      words=line.split(' ')
+      words=line.lower()split(' ') #convert all words to lowercase.
       for word in words:
+        word=word.strip(',.!?;:') #remove punctuation.
         if word in word_stats:
           word_stats[word]+=1
         else:
@@ -18,4 +19,4 @@
 print("Words with max occurances are: ")
 for word, count in word_stats.items():
     if count==max_count:
-        print(word)
\ No newline at end of file
+        print(word)