Henry van Dyke

Henry van Dyke was born in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1852 and graduated from Princeton University, where he became a professor of literature for nearly twenty-five years. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Paris and US Ambassador to Holland and Luxemburg just before the beginning of the First World War. All his life, van Dyke was a man of religion as well as a teacher and writer of short stories. Some of these are still popular today. He died in 1933.

Articles by Henry van Dyke

Silverhorns

IntermediateFiction

Henry van Dyke tells the story of a man who spends his holidays moose hunting. On his way home, he tells a train driver how he hunted a magnificent moose for days but just missed shooting it. In some ways, he is glad the moose got away but the story has surprise for everyone in the end. (2,580 words)

Antwerp Road

IntermediateFiction

In this very short story, van Dyke analyses the terrible misery of war. He describes a road from the Belgian city of Antwerp, crowded with people trying to escape the German invasion but, at the same time, there are thousands returning to their broken homes because they are tired of being strangers away from everything they know (420 words).