Interpreting Poetry For Dummies

Whenever I read a poem, I usually don't have much of a strategy. I would first look at the poem and obtain a rough idea on what the poem meant. Then I would usually read each line again and try to decipher the meaning of that particular line. I would usually read the poem about 3-5 times, each time trying to obtain the meaning further with each reading. On occasions when footnotes do appear, I would take the time to read it to help me further understand the meaning of difficult and old terms. I rarely use a dictionary when reading a poem, unless there is a word that is completely alien to me, then I would refer to the dictionary. Also, I will always read the poem in my head, never out loud because in my opinion, there really isn't much of a difference if you read it aloud or in your head. Furthermore, I do take notes on occasion when I am trying to decipher the meaning of a poem to help keep track of my idea. Lastly, I do encounter a few problems when reading poetry, for example on some poetry when the meaning is too encoded, I don't have the mentality to figure my way around, which leaves me slightly frustrated but I do feel that maybe after some practice on analyzing poetry, I can get around that obstacle when reading poetry.