Fuzzy Head: A Confusing Poem

Beachy Head is by far one of the most difficult poems I've ever read. I think this is mostly due to its' length and the historical/cultural references that I don't understand . I loved Smith's sonnets; they were full of emotion and had depth. However, Beachy Head seemed to be written by someone else, someone who was trying to cram many things into one poem. Half way through the poem it seemed to me that Smith was trying to create one "big picture"as it were, by using many details, i.e. historical, political, spiritual and personal details.This was an interesting concept to me, having just read Schor's article on Tuesday. Unfortunately this made the poem even more confusing for me. Also, as stated before, I loved reading Smith's sonnets because of the emotional depth; Beachy Head did not seem to have any of that emotion until the hermit's death at the end of the poem.