The Fifty-Sixth Canto, even more than in earlier ones, juxtaposes depictions of history (still Chinese) with American slang: licked ’em, swat, gimcracks, damned rascals, etc.

One line that stuck out for me was this:

And litterati fought fiercer than other men to out the mogul

Was this how Pound saw himself? A ‘litterati’ (sic) standing against the ‘mogul?’

And who were the mogul?

The illiterate and uncultured hoi poli?

Or are these moguls the moguls of finance? The bankers and financiers Pound blamed for so many ills?