Aaron, I love Fenton and what he has to say in your post. I’m reminded of something Auden once said, that he had always trusted the Muse to send him the right thing to read next. I feel that’s true; once again, there is something in the poet’s or artist’s development that can’t be calculated or exactly planned. I’ve never heard a better expression of it than in
this song by Stephen Sondheim, from "Sunday in the Park with George". Sondheim certainly knows something about the creative process.