The Work of Poetry is a meditative book. However, where monks and yogis and other mystics might chant the same thing over and over again in an effort to drive themselves deeper and deeper into the circular labyrinth of human consciousness until they fall out the other side, Hollander circles around to narrow his meanings.
In his chapter on originality, for example, he spends most of his words working towards clarifying the idea of there being original (as in a novel) things and original (as in generative/layered) things.
In a way, the dual definitions he sets up for "original" mirrors his earlier point about synchronic and diachronic interpretation, but his point here is more about the importance and real primacy that something generative has as opposed to something merely new. Specifically, it seems that what he's driving home is the idea that novel things don't have enough staying power to become entrenched the way that revised things are.
For the sake of an example, Genesis is used throughout this chapter. Yet, what's left unclear to me is if Genesis is something that embodies both sense of "original" or is supposed to be a text that exemplifies something generative, since it's always been the product of a great many revisions and combinations.
Whatever the case, all of his words come down to meaning it's more important to be able to revise something than it is to create an entirely new something - and much more lasting.
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