A General Overview of Confessional Poetry

- Considering John Berryman’s “The Dream Song 1”

Module E
Table of Contents

A. Introduction 1

B. Key Characteristics of Confessional Poetry 2

C. Biography of John Berryman 3

D. Analysis of John Berryman’s “The Dream Song 1” 5

E. Reasons why “The Dream Song 1” is a Confessional Poem 8

F. Conclusion 10

References 11

Appendix 12
A. Introduction

Themes like depression, disappointment, despair, sexual guilt and alcoholism are topics,
on which everyone seems to have an opinion, even a casual conversation with a
seatmate in the doctor’s waiting room evokes opinions about these inconveniences. It is
interesting that confessional poetry develops them in the first person in a way that
means to point to the poet himself. Confessional poetry is a genre, that began as one of
many artistic moments right after the second World War. Recent investigations on
confessional poetry has focused, for the most part, on the relationship of the work with
its author. During the 1950’s, confessionalism has developed into an important
movement in American poetry. Robert Lowell introduced a shift in American poetry, by
publishing his book Life Studies in the 1950s. The book deals with Lowell’s childhood
experiences, memories and his psychological condition. With the publication of his
book, he established a new era in which the poetic modeled New Critical formalism
were substituted by a less strict and self-revelatory form of poetry. One of the most
well-know poets of this era is John Berryman. His major work was The Dream Songs,
which consists of 385 poems about a character named Henry. Many of the poems
contain elements of Berryman's own life and traumas, such as his father's suicide.
This paper aims to enlighten about the development of postwar poetry and its liberating
escape from the domination of traditional lyrical poetry. Furthermore, this research
considers the nature of the protagonist in John Berryman’s “The Dream Song 1”, his
relationship to the poet, and the extent why the poem is confessional.
Firstly, chapter B will give a general overview about confessional poetry and its key
characteristics. In order to draw a conclusion within this investigation, it is of vital
importance gaining a deeper insight into the genre. Chapter C will point out the life of
Berryman so that it can be confronted with the story of the central character Henry.
Then, the following chapter will deal intensively with the first poem of The Dream
Songs by John Berryman. Chapter E, finally, analyses why the poem is considered to be
a confessional poem, taking into account the main traits of the genre and its accordance
with the poem. This research offers an insight into the author’s mood and the way he
deals with his emotions in his writings. It will be shown how Berryman reflects his
thoughts and feelings with an extremely personal and detailed way in his poem.

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B. Key Characteristics of Confessional Poetry

Beginning with a definition according to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of

Literature, “[c]onfessional poetry is a verse in which the author describes parts of his or
her life that would not ordinarily be in the public domain. The prime characteristic is the
reduction of distance between the persona displayed in a poem and the author who
writes it.”. In other words, confessional poetry of the mid-twentieth century deals with
topics that had not been considered publicly in American poetry. There are references to
issues that were considered to be shameful and banned. They are rather intimate and
private, still the poets do not feel any suspensions in telling their most intimate and
personal problems or experiences to their readers. The genre is marked with several
characteristics. Individual experiences with death, depressions and relationships are
subjects that are addressed in this genre, generally with an autobiographical presence. It
involves traumatic incidents that are grounded in deep emotional wounds of their early
lives (cf. Beach 2003, 155). A fundamental characteristic consists of the use of the first
person, which allows the reader an overall view into the thoughts and emotions of the
poet. The author not just portrays his or her own work as a poet, but also the first-person
narrator of the poem, thus they are equivalent and convertible. In addition, the reader
can be confronted with matters, such as fear of failure, sexual infidelity, emotional
breakdown, suicide and other mental disorders which can be resulted from early
childhood (cf. ebd.). It can be regarded as an era that has broken down the boundaries
that were set previously in literary writing.
Most of the readers of confessional poetry consider the poems to be a kind of
confession in which the poets uncover their painful personal failures, mental
breakdowns and incidents of psychological misery (cf. Byrne 2003). Since these poems
are accessible for everybody, readers get to know what the author is concerned about
and is going through. They give the readers an insight into their psychological condition
“with little apparent distance” (Beach 2003, 155). The individual impressions of the
poets are no longer expressed from the distance, but with a more relaxed and personal
voice. Confessional poets were known for their psychological bad condition problems
that they were suffering from. Poets such as “Plath, Berryman, Anne Sexton, and
Delmore Schwartz were all suicides […]” (ebd.). The mid-twentieth century literature is
also known as contemplation in which the poet engages with the self. Writing and
putting emotions on paper was seen as a matter of healing or therapy which offers a

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meditative function for the poets. It is more just an emotional release for the poets, but it
also represents an opportunity to proof and act out their lyrical craftmanship. Sylvia
Path confirms in an interview that confessional poems “[… ] are wonderfully craftsman-
like poems and yet they have a kind of emotional and psychological depth which I think
is something perhaps quite new, quite exciting.” (Grill 2008, 20).
The poets refer to their autobiographical contents in a style of a monologue and
use different stylistic and rhetorical devices. Lyrical skills play a significant role for
confessional poems, hence there is a careful attention on the rhythm, the meter and other
aspects of prosody (cf. Academy of American poets 2014). Confessional poets tend to
use severe words, that would commonly not be used in such emotional subjects, in order
to illustrate and intensify their own thoughts and feelings.
Historically, confessional poetry began with the poems of Robert Lowell in the
late 1950’s, including his Life Studies. The mid-1960’s are regarded to be the ultimate
stage of the confessional mode. The confessional movement evoked a significant
development in the way American poetic mainstream progressed the writing in poetry
(cf. Beach, 155). Poems that deal with personal intimate issues became common for the
confessional so that they were no longer regarded to be provocative. Instead, the works
established the new mainstream of American poetry (cf. ebd.).

C. Biography of John Berryman

John Berryman has been called the “middle generation” of American poetry and began
writing under the influence of the New Criticism. He was born John Smith in
McAlester, Oklahoma. His surname comes form his mother’s second marriage. His
father, John Allyn Smith, was a small-town banker who committed one mistake after
another so that he was fired from several jobs. Berryman suffered from the loss of his
father at the age of 12 when he shot himself outside the boy’s window. His father’s
suicide affected him throughout his entire life and persisted as a subject in his poetry
(cf. Gioa, Mason & Schoerke 2004, 506f.). He felt the responsibility for the tragedy.
Since he was growing up with catholic principles, he experienced strong guilt and
shame. His mother remarried and moved the family to New York. His stepfather helped
him attend Columbia University where he did his bachelor’s degree in 1936. Two years
later, he took a second degree at Clare College, Cambridge (cf. ebd, 507). Returning to
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the states, he began teaching in various prestigious institutions, such as Harvard and
Princeton. He grew up deeply involved in researching and writing literature. While his
career he met most of the famous American literary personalities of his generation, like
Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop and Delmore Schwartz. His success in poetry was
achieved slowly. First, he wrote essays on William Shakespeare and Christopher
Marlowe. Then, he published his poems in the anthology Five Young American Poets in
1940. After that, more collections appeared, such as The Dispossessed and Homage to
Mistress Bradstreet (cf. ebd.). He developed a raised belief of what poetry is expected
to be, namely reformative towards the poets. Despite his literary achievements, he was
never stabilized emotionally. He was known for his opposed attitude and his affairs with
women. His severe consumption of alcohol and his disastrous acts made it difficult for
him to keep a job or maintain a marriage. In 1942, he married his first wife, Eileen
Mulligan, and by 1946, Berryman’s sexual obsessions reached its culmination that he
began recording his several affairs with other women (cf. ebd.).
In act of his own troubles, Berryman made poems that treated psychological
depths. His breakthrough came with a total of 385 poems entitled The Dream Songs
which was inspired by Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”. Nevertheless, both differ
stylistically and formally from each other. In The Dream Songs he presents a main
protagonist, called Henry, who display events of Berryman’s life and many of his
attitudes and emotions. In the preface he states that the poem’s main character is “an
imaginary character (not the poet, not me) named Henry, a white American in early
middle age, sometimes in blackface, who has suffered an irreversible loss.” (MacGowan
2004, 236). Nevertheless, the issues that Henry confronts, such as his isolation from
friends and family, his failed marriages and the “irreversible loss” are parts of
Berryman’s own life and feelings also expressed in his The Dream Songs poems.
The Dream Songs were published in two collections: 77 Dream Songs (1964)
and His Toy, His Dream, His Rest (1968) (cf. Beach 2003, 165). He had achieved
enormous success. He had won the Pulitzer Price, the National Book Award and the
Bollingen Prize. He continued publishing poems which focused more on death and
suicide. He went trough intensified problems in his life and suffered mental as well as
physical breakdowns. His alcoholism and depression destroyed him. Between 1969 and
1970, he checked himself into rehab, where he managed to stay sober for eleven
months. In his novel Recovery, he describes his struggle with his rehabilitation.
However, in 1971 Berryman experienced a spiritual crisis, thus he reconsidered the

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Catholic faith of his upbringing, but it has not protected him from his own anguish. In
1972, he jumped from a bridge in Minneapolis, ending his life at the age of fifty-seven
(cf. Gioia, Mason & Schoerke 2004, 508).

D. Analysis of John Berryman’s “The Dream Song 1”

The first poem from The Dream Songs is one of the works that follows the struggle of
the central character Henry, who shows remarkable similarities to Berryman’s life.
“Dream Song 1” refers to Henry’s loss of happiness. At the beginning of the poem, the
reader is introduced to the central protagonist, Henry, who is in a miserable condition,
unlikely that he will come out of this mood. The third person narrator points out that
Henry thinks about the deal of the world, able to remove everything from the life of a
person. There should be something done in order to improve his state. The second
stanza clarifies the motive of his unhappiness. In his past he had everything on his side
and was happy until suddenly this happiness was gone, and he was lost. The third
person narrator wonders about how Henry survived this abrupt loss and continues to
live after all the misery. The final stanza deals with the memories of the good times and
the inevitability of a loss in life. The life can bring happiness, and, at the same time, it
can be changed into misfortune.
The poem consists of three stanzas, divided into six lines per stanza and
irregularly rhymed. The rhythm is also very important within the poem, although it has
no regular structure. The rhythm starts with a stressed syllable followed by an
unstressed, thus a trochaic rhythm. After that the rhythm varies. It might be that the
variation of rhythm within the poem represents the confused feelings of Henry. The
mess of the rhythm is also apparent in the feelings of the protagonist; thus, it creates a
mixed-up and chaotic tone. The concordance of the rhythm with the content makes it
easier for the reader to understand and internalize Henry’s feelings.
There is no regular rhyme scheme in Berryman’s “Dream Song 1”. The sound
pattern is also slight but significant. The strong regular rhymes, such as “day” - “away”,
“thought” - “ought”, etc., covers up slightly the less conspicuous rhymes, like “sulked”
– “talked”, “long” – “sang”, etc. It is remarkable that the lines who rhyme also have a
certain connection to each other. They express two opposing phenomena: the good luck
in the past and the actual misfortune, for example, “All the world like a woolen lover

5
once did seem on Henry’s side.” and “I don’t see how Henry, pried open for all the
world to see, survived.”.
The alliteration in the first line of the first stanza, “Huffy Henry hid”, intends to
emphasize the involvements of Henry. Additionally, the following pause evokes
expectations on the part of the reader, so that the reader is instigated to deal actively
with Henry’s inner life. Another alliterative expression is found in line 4, “the thought
that they thought”, which underlines that the world can remove all the gladness from
Henry. The alliterative use of words induces the reader to reflect about and incorporate
with the suffering of the central protagonist. Another possible interpretation is that, with
the very first line of the poem, Berryman plays with its poetic craftsmanship. Whereas
“huffy” is a colloquial expression, “hid the day” can be regarded as a familiar metaphor.
The pause after the word “hid” arouses interest among the readers. Reading up to the
pause “Huffy Henry hid” encourages the reader to reconsider the continuing of the line.
The readers might not expect the word “day” following, since it presents a different
standard from the initial expression. Hence, the line seems to be comical and ironic
because of the presence of the alliterative “h” and the contrasting level of language,
which can be interpreted as a provocative allusion regarding the traditional habits of
lyrical poetry. Affirming that he can alternate between styles and levels, he makes the
reader more conscious about the shifts in order to be unpredictable. On the other hand,
the pause can be assumed as a deep breathe which underlines Henry’s fear. The
alliterating “h” emphasizes his anger.
In the third line, the pronoun “I” is introduced, a typical characteristic in
Berryman’s writing. The “I” and the third person narrating refer to the same people,
thus to Henry. In the previous lines, Henry speaks to himself in the third person,
consequently realizing a change in the point of view. Furthermore, the line three brings
a change in the rhythm. It is conversational.
The second stanza is implicit rather than obvious: therein, it is disclosed why
Henry is in this unpleasant condition. He once had everything on his side, “like a
woolen lover”, but when the “departure” of his happiness appeared, he felt “dried open”
and experienced a loss which have be taken away from him. Speaking to himself in the
third person again, Henry wonders how he is still alive after all that misfortune. The
poetic style is comparable to the style of the first line, like the rhythm in “once did seem
in Henry’s side”. Berryman also returns in this stanza to the traditional lyrical
terminology. Just like in the first stanza, here again the reader is confronted with

6
conflicting styles of speech: “on Henry’s side” is a colloquial expression, whereas
“woolen lover” is a combination unlikely used.
In the final stanza, Henry remembers the happy times of the past that can be
dramatically lost and reflects about how the loss can affect people drastically. The final
lines emphasize the experienced feelings of a sudden loss, with which “empty grows
every bed”. This stanza presents a few fundamental aspects. “The world can bear & be”
is an expression which is constructed unusually. “Bear & be” possibly depict an
alliteration but both words do not really belong together. Thus, the reader have the
possibility to speculate about the unusual combination and make his or her own
interpretations.
The language alternatives in “Dream Song 1” make it difficult to the reader to
understand how one line is following the other. There is a dichotomy in terms of
meaning: the emotions described in the poem are coherent but complex, but the
connection between the lines is not intelligible; consequently, the language use which is
probably integrated intentionally in the poem means to reflect the emotions of the
protagonist. There are found traditional, informal and formal writings or expressions in
this poem. For instance, “Once in a sycamore I was glad all at the top, and I sang.” is a
typical, lyrical writing, yet “Then came a departure.” can be considered as a formal style
of speech. Berryman plays with changes of registers, due to the combination of both
formal and informal language, as it can be seen in line 10: “Thereafter nothing fell out
as it might or ought.” This method of alternating language use which goes through the
poem is a manner to consolidate the poem. The lines that seem to be independent from
each other result in a relevance. Berryman’s entire life reflects his rapid and frustrating
changes like the language use in the poem. Apart from this, the seemingly unrelated
lines evoke assumptions by the readers, accordingly the poem becomes a convincing
performance.
Having in mind that Berryman considered The Dream Songs a single long poem,
in which the main character Henry depict his dreams, fears and hopes, this analysis will
solely be concentrating on the first poem. The “departure” that came in Henry’s life can
be interpreted as an autobiographical reflection of the poet’s life. The departure of
Henry’s happiness is the loss of a person in his life, same as in Berryman’s. For
Berryman it is his’ father’s departure or even the consistent departure of his wives. The
bed that becomes empty evokes the absence of a person or rather of a companion. In
this poem the reader is confronted with the reason of Henry’s sorrow and fear. When he

7
experienced the loss of his life, nothing was going to be the same again. The departure
that came suggests the suffering and loneliness of Henry. He complains that no longer
life will join around him with the protection of a “woolen lover”. “I don’t see how
Henry […] survived” include an allusion to suicide, since the third person narrator finds
it surprising that Henry comes through all the tragedy and, thus not yet wanting to take
his life. The poem brings up the enduring disbelief that the world and himself can suffer
terrible feelings and that he continues to live. Furthermore, the “long wonder” consists
of operating in order to achieve unity that urges to tolerate the pain of the life. Henry
experience the growth of being complete which involves the unpleasant side of life. He
does not want to be responsible for his adult life, consequently he grasps tightly his
childhood memories. “Once in a sycamore I was glad all at the top” implies that at the
time of his goodness, Henry felt close to God. He realized that without having faith in
oneself, the faith in God is misleading and transient, so his happiness disappeared. The
last two lines “Hard on the land wears the strong sea and empty grows every bad” can
be understood as a sexual allusion. The desirous sea wears hard with its penis on the
land, followed by emptiness and loneliness rather than offspring made by love. Henry
realizes what he has to do which requires hard work and “a long wonder”. The poem
paints a gloomy image of Henry’s life.

E. Reasons why “The Dream Song 1” is a Confessional Poem

The previous chapter has shown that there is a plenty of references in the first “Dream
Song” poem which show characteristics of confessional poetry. Firstly, concerning the
structure it can be approved that the poem is written in free verse which is typical for
confessional poetry. Meter and rhyme scheme are not strictly arranged, nevertheless the
way they are involved is controlled and aimed by the author. Developing a rhythm
throughout the poem, there is a correlation between the rhythm and the topic. Typically
written in the first-person point of view, which partly switches to the third person
narrator, the poem exhibits a high lyrical craftmanship. By means of the alliterating
expressions (“Huffy Henry hid”), the simile (“like a woolen lover”) and the sexual word
play (“Hard in the land wears the strong sea”) Berryman discloses his highly versatile
control of language and literary tradition. Using contrasting level of language, such as
formal and informal, he accomplishes a forceful play of voice and style. Since the

8
lyrical craftmanship plays a significant role in confessional poetry, “The Dream Song 1”
with its powerful syntax and diction is an appropriate example on how one can manage
it.
Other than that, the poem seems to reveal the psychological condition of the
author which is a fundamental characteristic of confessional poetry. Throughout the
poem the reader is involved in the grief of the imaginative creation Henry who
undoubtedly portrays Berryman. The fact that Henry experienced a sudden loss is
reflected in the life of the poet. From the ensuing poems of The Dream Songs it is
known that Henry’s father is dead as well. However, without knowing the death of his
father, the “departure” mentioned in the poem indicates a loss in his life, which is the
reason of his misfortune. Berryman experienced throughout his life various losses, his
father and his wives. Being plagued by thoughts of death, depression and despair, Henry
complies with the author who has never established an emotional stability in his life.
His father committed suicide when he was little boy, thus it causes serious
psychological damages and he became addicted to alcohol. He grew up without a male
role model in his life which can be seen as a motive for his failed marriages. The poem
reveals the mental confusion and the emotional weakness of Henry which correspond to
Berryman.
Confessional poems have an autobiographical character which is, at the same
time, attributed to the discussed poem. Berryman committed, like his father, suicide
jumping from a bridge which states that he has intensively considered the thought of
committing suicide. It seems as if he has concerned this thought also in his writings. In
“The Dream Song 1” the third person narrator wonders how Henry is still alive after all
the disaster, like wondering how he has not yet committed suicide. Another reference to
the life of the poet is the sexual allusion in the last stanza. It was known that Berryman
had strong sexual desires for which he got into trouble. The sexual allusion in the poem
mirrors the sexual interests of its author. Confronting the life of Berryman with the
protagonist of the poem, there are several parallels.
Previously, it has been concerned that the third person narrator is equivalent to
the first-person narrator and that Henry talks from a third person point of view about
himself. Though, it is also possible that it is the voice of Berryman, involving himself to
the poem and referring to his experienced actions from a distanced perspective as if it
had not been part of his life. Dealing with his psychological condition and his memories
from the past, it seems to be a confession on the part of the poet. Confessional poetry

9
deals also with the function of therapy in which the poets reflect upon themselves and
their lives. This suggests that Berryman confesses that the loss of his father and his
wives, or better yet his isolation from family and friends, thus his loneliness, is,
amongst others, the reason for his breakdown.
F. Conclusion

As it has been presented, confessional poetry introduced an entirely new era in which
the focus is on inward conflicts and emotions of the poet. It can be confirmed that
confessional poetry is a movement that refuses the traditional depersonalized poetry.
Usually, poetry did not consider the author and there were no room for the self in the
poetry. With the bloom of confessional poetry this perspective changed. Writing poetry
becomes a matter of personal and intimate details from the poet’s lives. Furthermore, it
has been shown that the protagonist of the poem Henry and the author Berryman have
numerous parallels, regarding their griefs and emotions. The “departure” that came in
Henry’s life points out that he has lost something determining. Like Berryman, Henry
has experienced a loss in his life which is the reason for his misfortune. Both
individuals suffer emotional and psychological damages. Although Berryman insisted
that the character Henry is not a recreation of himself, it has been elaborated that there
exist several references to his life. The autobiographical context is a fundamental
criterion of confessional poems. Additionally, the mastering of the craft is another
aspect that makes this poem a confessional one. Berryman shows throughout the poem
that he possesses an impressive control of language and poetic literary. After having
analyzed the poem and referred it to the key characteristics of confessional poetry, it can
be affirmed that this poem belongs to the confessional movement. Not only does the
poet use typical structure of a confessional poetry, but also does refer to his own life. In
order to put his emotions on paper, he did not stick to the poetry tradition that were set
during the New Criticism and Modernism. The reader is confronted with the difficulties
and fears of Berryman which are presented in the poem as well. The poem’s language is
altering but controlled by the poet. Due to the language and style shifts, it is difficult for
the reader to follow. However, there is a little distance between the poet and the readers.
The notion of the poem can be seen as a kind of therapy. In sum, it can be said that
regarding to all of the points discussed above, the poem “The Dream Song 1” presents
proper characteristics of confessional poetry.

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References

Academy of American Poets. 2014. “A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry”. URL:

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/brief-guide-confessional-poetry(last
accessed March 28, 2019).

Beach, Christopher. 2003. The Cambridge Introduction to Twentieth-Century American

Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Byrne, Edward. 2003. “Examining the Poetry of Confession and Autobiography: After
Confession: Poetry as Autobiography”. URL:
https://www.valpo.edu/vpr/byrneessayconfession.html (last accessed March 28,
20019).

Gill, Jo. 2008. The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Gioia, Dana; Mason, David & Schoerke, Meg. 2004. Twentieth-Century American
Poetry. New York: McGraw-Hill.

MacGowan, Christopher. 2004. Twentieth-Century American Literature.

Malden/Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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Appendix
“Dream Song 1” by John Berryman

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.

What he has now to say is a long

wonder the world can bear & be.
Once in a sycamore I was glad
all at the top, and I sang.
Hard on the land wears the strong sea
and empty grows every bed.

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