I also like what Shaun said about telling his students not to read the notes.
When I was in school, it seems that every great poem we were given to read had numerous footnotes on every page, along with glossary terms along the right-hand margin, and I dutifully read each one. The result? "Reading" a poem became a slog and an intellectual chore. I never did make it through Paradise Lost and many other great poems.
A few years later, I was given a volume of Paradise Lost printed on beautiful paper, with beautifully produced Blake illustrations generously sprinkled throughout, but not a single footnote. The book became a page turner for me, one of the most enjoyable reading experiences of my life, from the first line to the last. While there were undoubtedly many words I didn't know, and classical references that flew over my head, not chasing down the meaning of every last syllable freed me to thoroughly enjoy the story and the poetry. There was plenty of time when I was done to wonder about the scholarly stuff.
The general point is that ideally you want the reader to focus on the poem itself, and the more side information you give, the more you try to direct the reader's attention before they have read the poem, the less likely they are to actually enjoy it.
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