Word: berrymans
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...JOHN BERRYMAN jumped to his death from a bridge on the University of Minnesota campus on January 7, 1972. At that time his last book of poetry, Delusions, Etc., was in proof and contained a poem titled "Walking Into the River." The poem has since been deleted and does not appear in the published volume. Posthumously published works usually raise questions concerning the extent and character of editing done after the author's death, and Delusions, Etc. is no exception. But even without any unmistakably specific references to his impending suicide, this poetry is clearly the product of a tortured...
...there is any central theme to the diverse assortment of poems in Delusions, Etc., it is a general expression of desperation and a hope for some sort of release from life. Berryman's father committed suicide and the memory of that event sharply marks poems such as "Tampa Stomp" and "Old Man Goes South Again Alone." The lines from a poem called "No" are very explicit, when Berryman claims that "I faint for some soft & solid & sudden way out as quiet as hemlock in that Attic prose." In the penultimate poem of the collection, "The Facts & Issues," Berryman states...
...RELIGIOUS FAITH never entirely defined accompanies Berryman's despair. It is a faith that invokes God as a protector but does not explore the Divine nature. It revolves less around God than around the poet's personal need for Him. The first section of Delusions, Etc. is composed of eight poems patterned on the Roman Catholic liturgical offices of the day, from Lauds to Compline. Other poems in the collection include a number of prayers ("Somber Prayer," "Overseas Prayer," "Usual Prayer," and "The Prayer of the Middle-Aged Man") and a thanksgiving. There is also a poem in honor...
These poems are the more powerful because of their astonishing directness. Berryman had by this point mastered the technical problems in projecting his tense, lonely, anguished voice. As a young man he wrote impeccable poems that sounded just like Yeats. In his 40s he established his own sound in the loose series of hundreds of "dream songs" in which an alter ego named Henry spoke the author's mind in slangy, staccato rhythms. Henry appears in some of this collection, but Berryman had moved away from songs to these final, racked prayers...
Occasionally the earlier, more resilient Berryman still surfaces. There is a wonderful bravura hymn to Beethoven; a hymn to a Minnesota Thanksgiving feast that ends with a hearty "Yippee"; bouquets tossed at Frost and his drinking pal Dylan Thomas, and moments of tenderness toward his wife. But the dominant tone is cold despair. One of the last poems recalls a night spent at Critic Richard Blackmur's house in Maine...