Writer, minister, critic, professor, outdoorsman--Henry Van Dyke was a man of multiple talents and great energy. As a literary critic he supported the basic tenets of the Genteel Tradition well into the twentieth century, castigating the modern trend toward realism. His philosophy of art is best summed up in this statement: "The highest element in the best art is always moral, and fitted to make men and women better as well as happier.... Immoral art is one of the most evil influences in the world." For Van Dyke the aesthetic and the moral were intimately intertwined. Always the artist's duty was to elevate humanity, a belief reflected in his writing and his criticism.

Henry Jackson Van Dyke was born on 10 November 1852 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, to Henrietta Ashmead and Henry Jackson Van Dyke, a respected Presbyterian clergyman. The son was influenced by his father's role as minister, though the...