568
PARTISAN REVIEW
est hours, in which John expressed anxiety over hi s new poems, or
contrariwise showed a grea t confidence in them and in the novelty of
their form.... The manuscript, when it came, seemed inferior to the
Dream Songs, yet interesting in some of its materials, and fascinating
in some of its transitions and coll oca tions. Out of a sense that he was
feeling hi s way from one style to another, and sh ould no t be
discouraged, I think that I soft-pedaled my reserva ti ons and concen–
trated on the good qualities of John 's new work . I did say to him th at
some of the lin es and passages n eeded more brilliance o f the kind he
could su pply, and th at he ought to write an add itional poem or
passage in whi ch he explained that he was
not
writing a full literary
au tobiography. ...
William Meredith was equall y sh rewd in hi s judgment o f Berryman 's
mo tives :
Since when does your critical judgment need support or compari son ?
You are one of the most con siderable poets of o ur time, and have
become so by a process of lonely, pig-headed self-editing. You could
tell good from bad and true from false in your wo rk long before I
could (in your work ). As a loving fri end, I am
bothered
at your
wanting either criticism or praise, at thi s point and with thi s
urgency, from (Eli zabeth Bishop and Richard Wilbur ) or from Mark
Van Doren or me. An insecure Berryman is a contradiction in the
adj ecti ve. When you have a ho t streak, you know it.
If,
as is possible,
you 're not having a ho t streak with these poems, (a nd it would be my
opinion on the grounds of the ones you 've sent me you 're not) you
suspect if you know that, and you sit on the poems doubtfull y until
they declare themselves.
Meredith could hardl y have been more perspicacious: Ma rk Van Doren
endorsed hi s sentiments: "Your letter says
very
wisely what I' ve been
trying to say to John on the phone-with no result except long sil ences
and then screams." In short, mos t of hi s fri ends were doubtful about
the quality of the poems. They were no t to know tha t he was di sp ro–
portionately vulnerable
to
even a misheard whi sper of criti cism. Where
he looked for san ctificati on, they could onl y give him back hi s human
na ture. Being the man he was, sick-no t from vanity, but in the f1 esh–
he turned to drink.
Within a few days, Berryman was admitted to the Abbo tt Hospital
in a sta te of alcoholism . The narra tive summa ry by Dr. Donald M.
Mayberg included these remarks:
He was unable to walk and so entered the hospital voluntaril y.
Ph ysical examination was consistent with tha t state of alcoho l
withdrawal in that he was markedl y tremulous and showing n ystag-
