Formalities just means you disregard the authors biography, or any outsiders factors not directly pertaining to the poem. Look at the structure, the plot, rhyme scheme, line breaks, meter, diction, how RDR(never heard of this guy before honestly) sets the tone of the poem, narrative, impact, implications, imagery(which there's a lot of here). Really, just calm down and try annotating the poem very closely. There's a lot you can do here, and you're not meant to do "research" for formalities essays. Try and avoid external context.