ABSTRACT
Following World War I, and again after World War II, manyAmerican writers and artists sought refuge in Europe. To the self-exiled artist, Europe represented a place of freedom far from the strictures of middle-class values. American expatriates alienated themselves from the culture of their homeland, where the moral code included a "good life" but left out the freedom for experimentation with style, subject, and form that would make many of them well known. An international community of writers and artists who inspired, critiqued, and promoted each other's work gathered in European cities during the periods between the wars and after the wars. The cosmopolitan cities of Paris and London influenced many American poets to push the boundaries and meet the challenge of Ezra Pound's command to "make it new."
