I have always found poetry to be more free in that aspect. Most poets, while having an overall intention for their work, hope that the reader will move around freely within the confines of the page. The reader is permitted to manipulate an author's words with his or her own personal experience and critical thinking. Poetry is prized for its freedom of exploration, and rarely, is there ever one firm right answer.It's all about exploration.I understand, though, that as humans we always seek clear meaning, and as a student, I understand what it feels like to approach a text with uncertainty. In an effort to ease the worries of the students I tutor I will often relate stories of my own experiences with close reading.
Once, in a poetry class, I had a professor who decided that in order to test our close reading skills he would select two poems for us to analyze from up and coming poets. He refused to give us any information on the two poems, save for the lines of poetry themselves, No author, no background, and no historical date to relate the poems to. He left us blind.
I chose my poem and spent all night scouring for meaning. I counted lines, syllables, rhythms. I examined the diction of every other word, and by the same time the next day I had a well-supported idea of what I thought the poem conveyed. I was even a little proud of myself as I passed it forward in class the next day.
On the day we were to receive our papers back, my professor insisted that we discuss the poems before seeing our grades. As he unraveled the background information to the poem I had chosen and began pointing out the spot-on analyses of my peers, I paled. I knew what I had written was far from many of the things he was saying. I had understood the general meaning of the poem but read into it specifics that were completely opposite to what my professor was teaching. I knew my grade would reflect my error... but it didn't.
I received my paper back with an A. My professor pointed out my solid arguments with praise. He said that the poet would have smiled at my interpretation.
That is the beauty of poetry. It is up to your interpretation. In a classroom setting, all you have to be able to do is articulate how you interpreted A from B. If your argument is clear and strong enough, no one can tell you you're wrong.