Petersen's Poetry Stuff

After working through the poetry section, I have found that my biggest challenge with poetry is getting bogged down in the small details and not recognizing the bigger picture.  The poem that gave me the most trouble was Keats' "La Belle Dame Sans Merci."  Though I was able to pick up on metaphors present in the piece, I found that I really was not able to pick up on the overarching messages and themes of the poem.  The clearest example of this is the fact that I did not pick up on the fact that the knight was dead until reading through the answer key for number seven.  After comparing my answers to the correct ones, I noticed that my major problem was that I focused on each detail's significance rather than how they all played into the bigger picture.  On question five, instead of recognizing that the setting ultimately conveys the "decay and decline" of the seasons in fall, I focused on the fact that the story takes place in a seemingly mystical forest.  Consequently, I think that Keats and some of the other romantic poets are confusing due to the fact that they often use very elaborate language, which paints a beautifully elaborate picture that distracts me from the actual message.