Fenton has made a name for himself as a journalistic poet. The poet as journalist is evident in the cinematic quality of his work. The critic Carol Rumens has analyzed his use of figurative language saying, "Metaphorical exuberance is out; the poet is par excellence a narrator, his metaphors a matter of action not image." Fenton is an ethnographer, historian, and anthropologist collecting images for the record.

Fenton's use of traditional English verse forms has placed him in the field of New Formalism, a sect that has returned to the roots of traditional poetry but makes use of contemporary themes and language. Because of his use of more traditional forms, Fenton has been compared to W. H. Auden, whose English standards are some of Britains most celebrated. Don Bogen, in a review of Fenton's latest collection Out of Danger, compares Fenton to Auden saying that the...