Some months before his tragic death in January 1972, John Berryman completed this selection from the whole of his published poetry. He designed it to provide both an introduction to his work and a summary of his poetic career up to the publication of Love and Fame. It reveals clearly that Berryman was one of the most original and important poets of the twentieth century.
'His fineness is of a kind we no longer, alas, expect, scarcely even hope for; it is produced by sheer weight of his poetic intelligence and originality.' Al Alvarez
'Poignant, abrasive, anguished, humorous.' Robert Lowell
John Berryman (1914-72) was born John Smith in McAlester, Oklahoma, and educated at Colombia College and Cambridge University. He later held posts at Harvard and Princeton, before taking up a professorship at the University of Minnesota.
He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1965 for 77 Dream Songs, and he continued to build upon this series of poems, publishing the end result, The Dream Songs, in 1969. His Collected Poems was published after his death in 1991.
More Info
Free Sign Up. Monthly News. Exclusive Events. 20% Discount on Books.
↓ Become a Faber Member today ↓
