Harnessing Pegasus: Inspiration and Meditation

What, exactly, is inspiration? There is no uniformity of definition among the dictionaries. Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms offers the most satisfactory statement for my purpose here: "the seemingly involuntary element in the arts of expression for which the artist holds a power outside himself responsible." It is assumed, then, to come from outside, like the wind blowing where it listeth. Randall Jarrell, the poet and essayist, compared it to a stroke of lightning. The critic Elizabeth Dr...