Dream Song 14 Resources

Berryman achieved some great successes as a poet and writer, but he also suffered some tragic failures and hardships in his personal life. Here's a good biography that chronicles the highs and the lows.

Berryman was always good for a quote, but sometimes they seem more like riddles. See what you think.

Here's a video of the man himself from 1967 reading #14.

Here's an excerpt from a 1967 interview with Berryman where he goes into some detail about how the character Henry functions in the Songs.

What's that? You want even more Berryman interview footage? You asked for it. Here's a link to a full interview from 1970 (6 parts in all). Things really get underway at around the 3.15 mark. Feel free to skip ahead. Enjoy. (Warning: Things get progressively smokier and more slurred as the interview progresses.)

Here's "Dream Song 14" read by Irish poet Paul Muldoon. Which do you prefer, Muldoon's reading or Berryman's (see take 1)? Why?

Here's a picture of Berryman late in his life, and also a picture of his gravesite.

Scroll down for a picture of Berryman holding court in a bar.

Here's Berryman in a 1970 interview from The Paris Review. TPR is known for its insightful interviews with literary-types and this one by Peter Stitt doesn't disappoint.

Here's an article (short and sweet) by Jana Prikryl from The Paris Review.

This is the book that won Berryman his Pulitzer Prize (kind of like an Oscar or Grammy for literary types).

Click here to check out Berryman's collection of Dream Songs. Be sure to click the cover to browse through the book.