John Berryman Quotes


There is no such thing as Freedom (though it is the most important condition of human life, after Humility, -which does not exist either). There is only Slavery (walls around one) and absence-of-Slavery (ability to walk in any direction, or to remain still).


Citations

Berryman, John. The Freedom of the Poet. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976.

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Johnson had a white mistress who accompanied him visibly at a time when Blacks were lynched for dating white women in many parts of the country. He was criticized heavily by whites for going with a white woman and many Blacks for the same.


John Berryman
John Berryman
  • Born: October 25, 1914
  • Died: January 7, 1972
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Poet

John Allyn McAlpin Berryman was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in the "confessional" school of poetry. His best-known work is The Dream Songs.