Poetry Goals and Failings

It's come to my attention that I'm a little less good at this poetry thing than I thought I was. So, let's get down to the subjects at hand… More specifically, what I need to know to get a little better at this poetry thing.

1. Separating "Story" from "Theme".

2. Identifying poems by their form.

3. General vocabulary.

4. Recognizing multiple meanings in one poem. When I find a meaning I tend to stick to it and look for more examples of that theme. Then, when I encounter question that asks about themes and my chosen theme is not included, I tend to get rather mixed up.

5. Paying attention to *every* word.

The first theme may sound odd. Specifically, I mean separating the story the poem is telling from the lesson it's trying to teach. I've managed to figure this out in other types of literature, so hopefully this will just take a little more practice and thought. Luckily, I greatly enjoy finding this sort of thing out. Unluckily, I greatly dislike figuring out what poems are by their form. When asked if a poem is lyrical, an elegy… My mind decides that it has not, in fact, learned anything about poetry, ever. Even more unfortunately, this is memorization work. I have an issue with that. General vocabulary is also memorization, but it's more fun, at least; I've always loved learning new words, and I used to compile long lists of words I found that I wanted to learn. On to my fourth goal… When I find a meaning I tend to stick to it and look for more examples of that theme. Then, when I encounter question that asks about themes and my chosen theme is not included, I tend to get rather mixed up. And lastly, I need to stop skimming over words or phrases that I think "less important" or easy to understand. Those words tend to come back to bite me. Every singe time.