John Berryman American critic and poet Date of Birth: 25.10.1914 Country: USA

1. Biography of John Berryman
2. Early Life and Education
3. Career and Achievements

Biography of John Berryman

John Berryman was an American poet and critic, known as the main figure of the "second generation" of modernist poetry. He reached his maturity in the 1940s and was called upon to assimilate and then overcome the influence of masters of the early 20th century such as T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, and Stevens.

Early Life and Education

John Berryman was born on October 25, 1914, in McAlester, Oklahoma. He completed his studies at Columbia University in 1936 and later attended Cambridge University in England, where he studied English literature and graduated in 1938.

Career and Achievements

Berryman worked as a professor of English literature at various colleges and universities. In 1955, he became a faculty member at the University of Minnesota, where he later became a professor of humanities. In 1950, he published a biography of S. Crane.

One of Berryman's notable works is "Homage to Mistress Bradstreet" (1956), which is a unique dialogue between a 20th-century writer and the shadow of a poetess who lived in the 17th century. He further demonstrated his daring imagination in his "Dream Songs," a cycle of poems published in two books: "77 Dream Songs" (1964) and "His Toy, His Dream, His Rest" (1968). This cycle can be described as an expressionistic novel in verse, with each song serving as a snapshot of the hero's consciousness.

Other works by Berryman include "Poems" (1942), "The Dispossessed" (1948), "Berryman's Sonnets" (1967), "Delusions, etc." (1972), and the posthumously published novel "Recovery" (1973). A collection of previously unpublished "Dream Songs" called "Henry's Fate" (1977) was also published after his death. Additionally, in 1976, a collection of his best prose writings titled "The Freedom of the Poet" was released.

Berryman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1965 and the National Book Award in 1969 for his contributions to poetry. He passed away on January 7, 1972, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.