John Berryman: Life, Friends, is Boring.

Grandeur is intrinsically fragile."These lines are not meant to be understood, you understand?/ They are only meant to terrify and--- comfort." John Berryman

I always defend youtube when people say ‘oh, it’s just a bunch of videos of people falling over and such’ because if it wasn’t for YT, I wouldn’t have found out about John Berryman or The Dream Songs, of which I am reading now

Two observations: 1) When he starts reading, he almost sounds like he’s going to cry. His voice sounds like it is going to very emotional places then suffocating itself before the destination is reached. Deeply rooted confessions are always difficult to make. 2) He kind of sounds like Vincent D’Onofrio in Men in Black.

I could listen to John Berryman for ever.

A man who seems intent on shedding his skin but fails and then fails again and continues to sing as he would alone or with any camera rolling. That he comes off all peculiar amplifies his presence in a glorious way. He is the person who was there when what needed to be said was precisely what he chose to say.

His personal life is key to understanding his poetry. Once you familiarize yourself with this, his work is easier to understand. Of course anyone who has a similar history will know this already.

One of the incredible but also sad things about writers is that they see much more than we do, or at least can express what we see and cannot say, to the point, though, that they end up feeling quite lonely because there is a reason that many don't know how to say what they see and cannot say, because what that is is hurt.

May I thank you deeply for posting this moving film.

Very moving indeed. Thank you hugely. I'm astounded to have found this clip, after reading Berryman for so many years. Again, many thanks.

You can't avoid the question of his alcoholism because he was a deeply personal writer and he addresses his drunkennesss, his ongoing struggle with depression and mania.... He released a book called "Recovery" which relayed episodes from his efforts toward getting sober in a treatment center and his grappling with the propositions of the 12 Steps.... What strikes me is the delivery of the Dream Songs here, and the way in which he talks about Henry as a stage character... You don't really get that from just reeading it on the page. How much of the poems were conceived as dialogue, narration... the Poet describing and explaining what he thinks of the story he himself is telling... Eleven Addresses to the Lord, to me, is still my favorite work of his, so rich and beautiful, personal prayers to what he variously understood about God.

As Woody Allen says, reality is for those who can't do any better.

There's a fantastic book by Olivia Laing called The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers Drink, which goes into some detail on the life and struggles of John Berryman and other writers. Really worth a read if you're interested in the intersection of alcohol and the craft of writing. Happy to be able to hear Berryman's voice, here.

Thankyou so much for this video, I have always wondered if he acted as intence as his poetry is, I guess he did. Please upload more if there is any.

I have never seen a more incredible reading of a poem.

Panera advertisements attached to a John Berryman reading. Have I lived long enough?

I suspect those initially hostile views of the poem were based on a misunderstanding. This poem presents a fine approach to boredom: rather than making hollow cliched affirmations about/against boredom, Henry faces boredom head-on, without excuses or justification. He faces the fact that he lacks "inner resources", engages in self-mockery of sorts, plays with language, and in so doing, transmutes the initial boredom into something interesting, funny, and imaginative. The image of the dog and its tail moving "considerably away" and leaving behind "me: wag" is the image suggesting the transcendence of boredom. The "me" could also refer to stale memories and deadening habits.

i want to see this unedited. ...o! the loss of footage of the great poets! ...we make due, and we love it.

Wow, I've read that song so many times before. Never knew there was video of it.

Life my friends is boring......how true!

read it 2 years back, never will forget