Berryman: There Sat Down, Once, a Thing on Henry's Heart.

[quagapp]

Pity he is drunk. Totally spoils his great work. Sad. It is better to simply read the dream songs to one self.

[chantforest]

@quagapp You are an idiot. A sad ignorant idiot. You will never know anything. I promise.

[Mazurka1001]

An original approach to reciting one's lines. Not easy the entire whorehouse of public readings and shit.

[flotson]

No, this guy does not fuck around.

Although he missed a word.

[henryarchielena]

This is as good as Life gets without God. He loved being lost, it made him special.

[dhopkinsm]

A prof at my university, unable to find words,wouldn't take a look at the paper... I am "thinking," this guy is not fucking around: how moved I am by this- I appreciate the anguish and depression! I didn't get the full effect he was trying to convey. Can you imagine? Amazing stuff. Sontag would be proud. Best moment? Each 10 seconds it just pours out of him like the Budd Dwyer bullet you know is waiting in the lurk. FYI: there ought to be a law against Henry. Mr. Bones: meow.

[bitrot66]

"Thinking" come like the Budd Dwyer bullet you know is waiting in the lurk! There is no escaping.

[bitrot66]

"Thinking" come like the Budd Dwyer bullet youw is waiting in the lurk! There is no escaping.

[julesthemadman]

I am unable to find words to say how moved I am by this. One of the best readings ever - the man doesn't perform poetry it just pours out of him as speech. Go John, speak down eternity and be at peace.

[RealMihaiQC]

This would be the greatest readings of all times if he wouldn't take a look at the paper each 10 seconds.

FYI, that "BUT" was epic.

[poetryreincarnations]

Amazing stuff Thankyou

[Mandersu]

He was a prof at my university. Can you imagine a lecture like this??? :D

[W1ldI31ll]

we read dream songs in my poetry class but I didn't get the full effect of his poetry until hearing him reading it. i really feel the anguish and depression that he was trying to convey. i appreciate it so much more.

[MrSadGuru]

meow.

[oye2a2000]

is he drunk?

[whispermoonlight2]

fabulous. this is poetry on its very edge, lived to the quick, taxing the whole person.

[Bolinas1971]

he's not drunk he's bloody seasick!

[EdiblePlanets]

@Bolinas1971 He's probably neither. He sounds clear here. However Berryman was a notorious alcoholic . . . as well as a brilliant poet.

[Poemsapennyeach]

Cool

[nydude6009]

i love how it doesn't feel as if he's reading a poem but like telling a story

[EdiblePlanets]

I like Berryman's conversational style.

[Oscar301]

true... albeit stiltedly!

[FleshTorturer]

One word- Genius.

[merryhaddock]

a real ape at work. you can see the ape in us all.

[TallCatsMakeGoodHats]

How is he so balanced when so drunk? He shouldn't able to read that so naturaly.

[davidparnelio]

it's about waking up the next day after a night of heavy drinking. "Nobody is ever missing."

[EdiblePlanets]

Poetry should not be treated like a puzzle. Saying a poem is "about" something is to miss the point of poetry. Many different experiences (real and imagined) went into the dream songs: women, whiskey, failures, fears, then-current events. You really can't summarize any particular song in a line like "it's about waking up after a night of drinking."

[hazillow]

If it is about experience, it's about "something." Your premise doesn't lead to the conclusion -- you are simply arguing that the Dream Songs are about a lot of "somethings" rather than one or two somethings in particular.

Why don't you stop trying to sound deep and start thinking about what you are saying?

[EdiblePlanets]

hazillow, what is your problem? If you stop playing poetry detective for a minute you may actually gain a deeper appreciation of the Dream Songs. Sure, you can say Song X is about such and such, but each explanation is going to be a gross oversimplification. The later songs tended to be a bit more direct, but the first 77 songs are such a mix of tragedy and comedy (in the same song), and shifting voices, that they defy concrete description.

[hazillow]

Are you sure they truly defy concrete description, or are you just too stupid to figure out what they say?

You didn't address my point. My point was that the Songs are about "stuff." "Stuff" is observable. "Stuff" can be communicated -- indeed, if it couldn't, then the Dream Songs wouldn't exist!

Your post is just a rehash of the same crap you said before; it's a shallow attempt at being deep.

Sometimes I feel it's unfair to argue with people on Youtube. Everyone here suffers from brain damage.

[EdiblePlanets]

hazillow, I'm not going to get into it with you b/c you are the type of person who uses the anonimity & safety of the internet to act like more of a jerk than you would in normal life. (assuming you have one.)

Anyway, since you are such a Berryman expert, could you please tell me what Dream Song 2 is all "about"? Too difficult? Okay, pick the song read here, or any song. The chances are that you will miss the point and go astray.

[rob756]

@EdiblePlanets susan sontag would be proud

[leadbelly39]

This is the greatest thing I have ever seen.

[hazillow]

Best moment in poetry of all time is the last stanza of this poem.

[stevevandien]

DAMMIT. A great poet and a drunk who killed himself. Couldn't anybody have saved Berryman? Did he HAVE to die thus? Could anyone have saved him and his art, rather than relegate it to posthumous consideration?

[doa2382]

He won a Pulitzer while he was alive. That's hardly unrecognized.

[stevevandien]

Granted. But clearly it wasn't enough for him. On the other hand, perhaps nothing would have been. I just wish someone could have done something -- don't know what -- to keep him from killing himself. He wasn't just a major poet; he was a Shakespeare scholar and an exceptional literary critic. Not to mention a husband and father. I just get sad and frustrated when exceptional artists take their own lives: Crane, Plath, Sexton, van Gogh, Rothko, Lindsay, Teasdale, etc. --

[doa2382]

There's a book , 'The Savage God,' which explores idea of suicide and the relationship of modern artists with suicide. The author, a poet himself, was a friend of Hughes and Plath's. It's a heavy subject. Certainly. Well worth reading, however.

[doa2382]

@stevevandien you might be interested in A. Alvarez'z 'The Savage God.'

[toReasonWhy]

Meh, that's the career. He signed up for it, and he knew it. Even if you get recognition in your lifetime, by that time you don't care about it. I mean, if you're genuine and genuinely brilliant. Usually, not always of course.

[gardenvarietypenis]

genuinely brilliant MEN need to eat too. they all crave recognition in their lifetime. posthumous and immortal recognition is worthless to them.

[toReasonWhy]

Some of them, most definitely, like this guy if you say so, I don't know him well, and Joyce definitely. Not all of them, certainly. I would bet my bottom dollar Pynchon puts no more stock in his fame than in its ability to put food on the table and allow him more opportunities in life to meet other great people. If Rilke was in it for the fame, he put on quite a show otherwise. Beckett too. But probably more important than whether they craved it is that, being brilliant, they were...

[gardenvarietypenis]

it's only natural to want to be read widely and to acclaim if you're an author of genuine brilliance. why would you be indifferent to your talent to going unnoticed, when day-after-day is onerously spent scribbling out thoughts intended for mass perusal? beckett, joyce, rilke, pynchon and all other oddball authors want to be widely read and praised even if they appear to be severe recluses and crave anonymity outside the literary world.

[toReasonWhy]

I absolutely disagree with you that this feeling is universal. It's not just romantic whimsy when countless writers say they wrote just because they felt an urge inside to do so. They have no reason to waste their entire life lying, they're too smart to do that. It's wrong to call their writing "thoughts intended for mass perusal." Of course, writers are human and occasionally they virtually all have a craving for recognition. But this is not their purpose for writing.

[toReasonWhy]

Again, I'm only talking about some writers. You're definitely right about a majority, who write primarily to be heard.

Also, I'm not some fanboy arguing this point in admiration. I just think it's undoubtedly true. Great writers tend to be outrageously genuine and open about intention, especially with themselves.

[gardenvarietypenis]

i know your not some "fanboy" with an infatuation; and, i'm just offering up my 2 cents. ultimately, we'll never know their true intentions as writers except that they have a need to express themselves and for those thoughts to be read by others (why else submit for publication). my original point was that artists want to approbation and acclaim NOW--it's better sustenance than food on their table.

e.e. cummings and other wealthy/patronized artists still sought the public's recognition.

[toReasonWhy]

generally pretty smart about living an individual human life, too, and in choosing this particular life they knew beforehand they could not be in it just for the fame, or it would kill them early.

Seems to me Joyce handled this well, because even if he hadn't gotten the recognition during his life (and certainly he didn't get enough to satisfy), his ego was massive enough that he felt personally certain he would be marked as one of the great ones, and thus staved off major doubt or resentment.

[xynwaima]

Men remember you dead man; the lovers of verses.

[NicktheBarber31]

I've been looking for video of John Berryman for fucking ever. The person who posted this kicks fucking ass

[cafais]

Thank you for posting these Berryman videos.

I've never seen an artist so immersed in his own work. Anyone who has not yet discovered Berryman is missing something. He's not easy, but the rewards are great.

[sallygal7]

this guy is not fucking around.

[mirrorloop]

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for this video.

[dclnm]

What an entertaining performance :)

How sad & funny at the same time...

[imthepb]

nobody is ever missing.

[rob858585]

My favorite poet. Thank you,

[jkcurtisuniv]

Thanks for this. Berryman touches the heart always and whateverishly.

[architectureofvision]

do you have any more from this interview? thank you so much for posting this!

[guywalker29]

Thank you for posting this fantastic film