Berryman, John

Berryman, John
born Oct. 25, 1914, McAlester, Okla., U.S.
died Jan. 7, 1972, Minneapolis, Minn.

U.S. poet.

Berryman attended Columbia University and the University of Cambridge and later taught at various universities. Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1956), one of his first experimental poems, assured his importance. His technical daring was also evident in 77 Dream Songs (1964, Pulitzer Prize), augmented to form a sequence of 385 "Dream Songs" in His Toy, His Dream, His Rest (1968). Later works include the deceptively offhand Love & Fame (1970) and Recovery (1973), an account of his struggle against alcoholism. He is noted for his confessional poetry laced with humour. Subject to deep depression, he committed suicide by jumping from a bridge.

Berryman

By courtesy of the University of Minnesota

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▪ American poet

born Oct. 25, 1914, McAlester, Okla., U.S.
died Jan. 7, 1972, Minneapolis, Minn.
 U.S. poet whose importance was assured by the publication in 1956 of the long poem Homage to Mistress Bradstreet.

      Berryman was brought up a strict Roman Catholic in the small Oklahoma town of Anadarko, moving at 10 with his family to Tampa, Fla. When the boy was 12, his father killed himself. Berryman attended a private school in Connecticut and graduated from Columbia University, where he was influenced by his teacher, the poet Mark Van Doren. After study at the University of Cambridge in 1938, he returned to the U.S. to teach at Wayne State University, Detroit, beginning a career that included posts at Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Minnesota.

      He began to publish in little magazines during the late 1930s, and in 1940 Five Young American Poets contained 20 of his poems. Two other volumes of poetry—Poems (1942) and The Dispossessed (1948)—followed. A richly erotic autobiographical sequence about a love affair, Berryman's Sonnets, appeared in 1967. Berryman was a versatile man of letters: “The Lovers” appeared in The Best American Short Stories of 1946, and his story “The Imaginary Jew” (1945) is often anthologized. His biography of Stephen Crane was published in 1950.

      Homage to Mistress Bradstreet is a monologue that pays tribute to Anne Bradstreet, the first American woman poet: sometimes her voice is heard, sometimes Berryman's, and throughout a loving and intimate grasp of the details of American history is manifest. His new technical daring was also evident in 77 Dream Songs (1964), augmented to form a sequence of 385 “Dream Songs” by His Toy, His Dream, His Rest (1968). Berryman's work bears some relation to the “confessional” school of poetry that flourished among many of his contemporaries, but in his case bursts of humour sporadically light up the troubled interior landscape. This autobiographical note continued to be sounded in Love & Fame (1970), in which he conveys much in a deceptively offhand manner.

      Berryman committed suicide by jumping from a bridge onto the ice of the Mississippi River. Recovery, an account of his struggle against alcoholism, was published in 1973.

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  • Berryman, John — (25 oct. 1914, McAlester, Okla., EE.UU.–7 ene. 1972, Minneapolis, Minn.). Poeta estadounidense. Estudió en las universidades Columbia y Cambridge y más tarde impartió clases en varias universidades. Homenaje a la señora Bradstreet (1956), uno de… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Berryman,John — Ber·ry·man (bĕrʹē mən), John. 1914 1972. American poet whose dramatic, personal, and complex works include Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1956) and the collection 77 Dream Songs (1964). * * * …   Universalium

  • Berryman, John —    см. Берримен, Джон …   Писатели США. Краткие творческие биографии

  • John Berryman — John Allyn Berryman (originally John Allyn Smith) (October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet, born in McAlester, Oklahoma. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and often considered one of… …   Wikipedia

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  • john — /jon/, n. Slang. 1. a toilet or bathroom. 2. (sometimes cap.) a fellow; guy. 3. (sometimes cap.) a prostitute s customer. [generic use of the proper name] * * * I known as John Lackland born Dec. 24, 1167, Oxford, Eng. died Oct. 18/19, 1216,… …   Universalium

  • John — /jon/, n. 1. the apostle John, believed to be the author of the fourth Gospel, three Epistles, and the book of Revelation. 2. See John the Baptist. 3. (John Lackland) 1167? 1216, king of England 1199 1216; signer of the Magna Carta 1215 (son of… …   Universalium

  • John — (as used in expressions) Abbot, Sir John (Joseph Caldwell) Acton (de Aldenham), John Emerich Edward Dahlberg Acton, 1 barón Adams, John Adams, John (Coolidge) Adams, John Quincy Alden, John Altgeld, John Peter André, John Arden, John Ashbery,… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • John Berryman — John Berryman, de son vrai nom John Smith, né le 25 octobre 1914 et décédé le 7 janvier 1972, est un poète américain, né à McAlester dans l Oklahoma. Figure majeure de la poésie américaine de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle, il est souvent… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Berryman — (Geburtsname: John Allyn Smith) (* 25. Oktober 1914 in McAlester, Oklahoma; † 7. Januar 1972 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) war ein US amerikanischer Hochschullehrer und Dichter, der nicht nur den Bollingen Prize in Poetry und den National Book Award …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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