Washington Allston is one of the most important artists to emerge in America after the American Revolution. A man of many talents, Allston was not only a visual artist but also a poet and novelist. Although his literary works have not been his legacy to American culture, they embody the Romantic ideals that fueled his artistic vision. Allston was a pioneer in his field, creating an art that pierced the exterior of existence to make the inner life visible and bringing the realm of the ideal into the real. While still adhering to the belief in the formal values of art and the moral ideals of his age, Allston chose to rely upon memory, imagination, and individual genius as the basis for his art. As a Romantic artist, his works bring a greater understanding to the literary and artistic endeavors of his contemporaries as well as the intellectual...