I read Ginsberg's Howl for the first time, encountered Robert Bly's poetry, met Sylvia Plath and Adrienne Rich. I began to realize what free verse could be, and experimented, imitating every new poet I came across. It's how you grow in your craft. You can't workshop your way to great writing, although you will definitely benefit from the workshops. Think for a moment of the forest.
Branches break off.
Wildflowers blossom and wilt, their petals dropping to the forest floor. And all those pieces, big and small, gradually break down into soil as they are eaten, digested and finally discarded by creatures like bacteria and centipedes. This digested plant matter is what fuels the growth of new plants. When Ezra Pound decided to become a great poet, he determined to know more about poetry than anyone else. And he's one of the top contenders for the title of The Poet of the Twentieth Century.