The author traces a recurrent new spirit in modern culture by examining several major creative figures in individual essays, treating their personal genius, aesthetic methods, and moral implications. He reads each as an embodiment of renewed individuality and sensory synthesis, linking literature, drama, and visual arts, and considers how their temperaments mediate religion and social life. Separate chapters set out close readings of Diderot, Heine, Whitman, Ibsen, and Tolstoi that mix biographical detail, critical interpretation, and comparative observation. The conclusion reflects on continuities with earlier traditions and argues that vigorous individuality continually renews perennial modes of feeling and belief.