I Might Be Poetry Dumb

I've decided that if I want to consider myself a poet I need to be much more knowledgeable about poetry forms. I want to be able to write different kinds of poems instead of just my typical style. I was also kind of hoping that in my studies I would become more familiar with different poets. I am well aware that I need to get myself a book of William Shakespeare's sonnets, but what about other poets and other poetry forms.

However, I can't seem to even grasp the concept of iambic pentameter. It makes some sense when I am reading a poem written in iambic pentameter, I understand the beat. I can't even begin to put it into practice though. I also don't seem to recognize it unless I am told beforehand that the poem is written that way. It seems like one of the most basic poetry concepts and I can't get it. I feel like this doesn't bode well for my poetry career. It's also a problem because I really want to write a sonnet and sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. Many other poetry forms are too.

Of course, its entirely possible that I'm being too hard on myself. In fact its highly likely since I've been doing that a lot lately. I always feel like I started too late and that I'm seriously playing catch up. So, I get really frustrated when I don't measure up to my own standards. I have to keep reminding myself that my standards are based on what I would expect from myself if I had been doing this for my whole life which just isn't the reality.