Rick' s Blog on Writing

Criteria for Good Poetry

I'm just throwing out an update...
didn't get any responses to my questions on writing poetry. I've just recently began writing poetry. I've also been doing a lot of reading (poetry), both classic works and more contemporary. I've also been reading a lot of books on poetry appreciation, as well as lessons on how to write better poetry.
Although, I am beginning to understand a lot of the types and different structue of poetry, I haven't really "gotten" why one poem is exceptional.
I've read a lot of the classics (Emerson, Longfellow, Poe,Thoreau, Whitman...) Some of it I really like, and others, to be honest, seems like it's awful.
The same is true for a lot of the more modern poetry...some of the writings that are given the greatest praise, just don't seem that good to me.
I'm just looking to see if anyone has any ideas or thoughts on this? Maybe some good books that may give better explanations?
I'd like to enter some of my poems in some contests, etc...but would really like to have a criteia as what makes a poem good (or particularlly exceptional)?