When I am in my painting," Jackson Pollock once wrote, "I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It's only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about.
Somewhat general thoughts on a modernist teaching apt for the modern text, starting with a too-rough but still helpful distinction between history and literature:
What's "liberal" about this trade-in?
When you're in the poem
A few more words on meta-pedagogy
Highest praise
Walt was a beatnik