Good heavens, yes. Goethe was perfectly aware of all this -- it helps to be one of the world's greatest poets, playwrights, novelists, biologists, and literary critics, not to mention a capable politician and administrator, fluent in the gods alone know how many languages and au courant with effectively all ancient and modern Western literature up to his time! Was Wagner influenced by him? You won't find a significant German cultural figure until 1945 or so who wasn't influenced by Goethe. So I think you're definitely on to something.