One of my favorite poets is the renowned John Berryman. He most famous for his collection of Dream Song poems which feature the main character of a working class men named Henry. Henry deals with many internal struggles throughout these poems as they highlight his depression and anxiety. There have many points made that Henry is in fact Berryman himself. Berryman once commented on this accusation and said Henry was not himself actually though there are fragments about Henry that Berryman indeed shares as well. It can be said that Henry represented the darkest part of Berryman, the part that you don't identify with yourself.
Despite being a brilliant poem of his time, John Berryman suffered from bipolar disorder as well as severe alcoholism. During Berrymans time bipolar disorder was called maniac-depressive disorder and it often went misdiagnosed which meant many people were unaware of their mental illness. Berryman often struggled with this and it in turn came out in his writing. When reading his collection of Dream Songs you get a sense of the sorrow and deep depression Berryman felt in his life. He had one failed marriage and was known around town as the town drunk that couldn't keep his hands off women. His hyper sexuality may have even been a symptom of his bipolar disorder.
Though John Berryman went through many hardships in his life, it ultimately made his poetry better. His raw emotion is so inspiring in his poems. Berryman is one of the few poets I felt as if opened his mind and let it spill on the page. It takes an extremely courageous person to let them self bare like that. I admire Berryman for this since I understand how hard it is to tell people how you truly feel. One of Berrymans best poems is Dream Song 1, here is a short excerpt:
"Huffy Henry hid the day,
unappeasable Henry sulked.
I see his point,-a trying to put things over.
It was the thought that they thought
they could do it made Henry wicked & away.
But he should have come out and talked.
All the world like a woolen lover
once did seem on Henry’s side.
Then came a departure.
Thereafter nothing fell out as it might or ought.
I don’t see how Henry, pried
open for all the world to see, survived."
John Berryman may have suffered from mental illness but he did not let it stop him from becoming a beautiful writing. He let himself go and let his audience into his world in his poems.
