Dream Songs MP

John Berryman's poems in Dream Songs consist of 3 stanzas with 6 lines each for 18 in total. He uses Henry as the main character as a type of alter-ego in his work. Knowing Berryman stumbled into problems with alcoholism, you can infer Henry comes from his drunken state (relating to the title). Berryman had a very different style of writing, and I especially liked how he would alter the English language. This becomes very eminent in poem 5 where he begins each stanza with lines such as, "Henry sats in de bar & was odd," "Henry sats in de plane & was gay," and "Henry lay in de netting, wild." He manipulates the English language very similarly to many popular musicians today, however, Berryman does this to prove a point while artists today are forcing words to rhyme. Berryman's style is very unique and he is considered one of the founders of confessional poetry.