1. Introduction: "The tradition of myself" -- 2. An American tradition: Emerson, Poe, Thoreau, and Whitman -- 3. A live tradition: Ezra Pound -- 4. Natural speech: the nineteen-tens -- 5. Artificial lives: the nineteen-twenties -- 6. Public speech: the nineteen-thirties -- 7. Private lives: the nineteen-forties -- 8. Conclusion: The end of tradition.