Dream Song - AS

After reading the set of Dream Song Poems by John Berryman, there is a clear sense of pain in all of his writings. When you first read these poems, there is no real order to them. Also, it makes it kind of confusing all the different names he uses. The most noticeable name is Henry, which appears over and over again. Most likely, Henry is a name that he uses for himself in his writings. If not a direct correlation to himself, than maybe it is someone who feels similar emotions throughout life. The emotions that come through in his poetry are obscure and painful. In the poem dream song #5, he uses the line "Mr Heartbreak, the New Man/come to farm a crazy land;/an image of the dead on the fingernail/of a newborn child." This line stuck with me as I continued to read his poems. I believe that Berryman sees the world as though it is broken. I think that through his poetry, he is trying to show people that there is good in the world, but he can't find it. In his poems he continues to talk about death, and heartbreak, and even starvation, which makes me believe that he only capable of seeing the bad, and looking at the world as if its in pieces.