Tips on mastering poetic elements?

I've been struggling with understanding poetic elements lately. Can y'all share some examples or tell me how you managed to grasp all the different elements?

I can understand how mastering poetic elements might seem challenging at first, but don't worry, with practice and a bit of guidance, you'll be able to get a good grasp of them. Here are some tips and examples to help you master some common poetic elements:

1. Imagery: Visualizing the scenes and experiences described in a poem can help you understand imagery. Read poems that are rich with sensory detail, like William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow" or Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," and try to paint a mental picture as you read.

2. Metaphor: Metaphors compare two things indirectly by implying that one is the other. For example, in "Hope" is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson, hope is compared to a bird. To better understand metaphors, try to identify the two things being compared and consider how they are alike.

3. Simile: Similar to metaphor, similes compare two things directly using "like" or "as." For instance, the line from "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns: "O my Luve's like a red, red rose." To understand similes, focus on the words "like" or "as" and analyze the comparison being made.

4. Alliteration: Alliteration is a type of sound device used in poetry, where multiple words in a line have the same initial sound. For example, "She sells seashells by the seashore." Practice identifying alliteration by reading poems or tongue twisters and underline words that have the same initial sound.

5. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within words in a line or stanza. An example is the line "I must confess that in dreams I have kissed" from W.B. Yeats' "When You Are Old." To better recognize assonance, read a poem aloud and listen for repeated vowel sounds.

6. Rhyme: In poetry, rhyme refers to the similarity of ending sounds in words. For example, the words "sky" and "high" rhyme. To study rhyme, read poems with rhyme schemes (such as sonnets) and try to identify which words at the end of lines rhyme with each other.

7. Meter: Meter is the rhythmic structure of a poem, depending on the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line. An example of a common meter is iambic pentameter, as seen in Shakespeare's sonnets. To understand meter, try reading a poem aloud and tap your foot to the rhythm or mark the stressed and unstressed syllables on paper.

8. Enjambment: Enjambment occurs when a line of poetry does not have a pause at the end, causing the idea to flow into the next line without stopping. To examine enjambment, read free verse poems (like those of E.E. Cummings or Walt Whitman) and look for lines that continue thoughts without punctuation marks at the end.

Lastly, reading a variety of poets and analyzing their work will significantly help you understand and master different poetic elements. As you read, don't be afraid to annotate the poems you encounter, noting any elements you find, and slowly but surely, you'll become more comfortable and adept at identifying and utilizing these elements.