I'm unexperienced reading poetry, but I'm not sure I would treat it any differently. Poetry to me seems like it requires a lot of context to really understand.

I'm unexperienced reading poetry, but I'm not sure I would treat it any differently. Poetry to me seems like it requires a lot of context to really understand. Who is the author and what kind of life have they lived? Who are their contemporaries and what cultural context are they responding to? etc. So maybe I'd do an initial "blind" read and take a quick note about my reaction. Then, I'd do some research about the author and try to figure out why they might have written that piece, followed by a second reading.