The Red Flower

Written by Henry Van Dyke

Narrated by LibriVox Community

LibriVox volunteers bring you 27 recordings of The Red Flower by Henry van Dyke. This was the Weekly Poetry project for March 11, 2012.

Dr. Henry van Dyke was an American author, lecturer, ambassador and pastor. He was in charge of the committee which wrote The Book of Common Worship of 1906, the first printed Presbyterian liturgy.
He wrote many poems, short stories, hymns and essays, often with religious themes.
This particular poem, written after the outbreak of World War I but set beforehand, contrasts the natural beauty of the summer before the war with the horror and destruction that is to follow. (Summary by Lucy Perry)

• Language: English
• Publisher: LibriVox
• Release date: Aug 25, 2014

Henry Van Dyke

Henry Van Dyke (1928–2011) was born in Allegan, Michigan, and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, where his parents were professors at Alabama State College. He served in the Army in occupied Germany, playing flute in the 427th Marching Band. There he abandoned his early ambition to become a concert pianist and began to write. In 1958, after attending the University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill and living in Ann Arbor, he moved to New York, where he spent the rest of his life. Henry taught creative writing part-time at Kent State University from 1969 until his retirement in 1993, and was the author of four novels, including Blood of Strawberries, a sequel to Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes.