Berryman's Shakespeare

The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet discusses Shakespeare's background, the early dramas, as well as the more mature plays, their texts, and the sonnets.

"As this book demonstrates, [Berryman] was the greatest Shakespearean of twentieth-century American poets." —The New Republic

John Berryman, one of America's most talented modern poets, won the Pulitzer Prize for 77 Dream Songs and the National Book Award for His Toy, His Dream, His Rest. He gained a reputation as an innovator whose bold literary adventures were tempered by exacting discipline. He was also an active, prolific, and perceptive critic whose own experience as a major poet served to his advantage.

Berryman was a protégé of Mark Van Doren, the great Shakespearean scholar, and the Bard's work remained one of his most abiding passions—he would devote a lifetime to writing about it. Thoughtfully compiled and annotated by Berryman biographer John Haffenden, this book tracks Berryman's impressive engagements with his greatest influence. From brilliant reconstruction "Shakespeare at Thirty" to an investigation into the identity of Mr. W.H., the young man addressed in the sonnets, Berryman's Shakespeare is a work of truly unique scholarship.

"[A] wonderful book . . . Always interesting on Shakespeare's life, Berryman is often astonishing on Shakespeare's words. Writing not merely as critic but as poet, he catches effects the rest of us might miss." —Chicago Tribune

"[A] splendidly researched and edited collection." —The New York Review of Books

"Interesting both as a way to see the leaps and lingerings of a bright mind and as a powerful act of self-identification." —Newsday