In my daydream College for Bards, the curriculum would be as follows:
1) In addition to English, at least one ancient language, probably Greek or Hebrew, and two modern languages would be required.
2) Thousands of lines of poetry in these languages would be learned by heart.
3) The library would contain no books of literary criticism, and the only critical exercise required of students would be the writing of parodies.
4) Courses in prosody, rhetoric and comparative philology would be required of all students, and every student would have to select three courses out of courses in mathematics, natural history, geology, meteorology, archaeology, mythology, liturgics, cooking.
5) Every student would be required to look after a domestic animal and cultivate a garden plot.
‘But the tune ISN’T his own invention,’ she said to herself…* 
 Auden probably also borrowed this rule from Pound, who was strongly against critics of his time. He says in  A Retrospect 
 Pay no attention to the criticism of men who have never themselves written a notable work. Consider the discrepancies between the actual writing of the Greek poets and dramatists, and the theories of the Graeco-Roman grammarians, concocted to explain their metres. 
 And in another essay ( How To Read ?) he lays out what he considers the three most legitimate type of criticisms. The second is criticism via translation (see rule no. 1) and the most effective is criticism via original composition. 

College for Bards