Berryman's Sonnets

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Berryman's Sonnets (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

Berryman's Sonnets, a cycle that traces a five-month love affair that began in April, 1947, contains poems that were written in 1947 while Berryman was teaching at Princeton University. The cycle was not published until 1967, primarily because of its explicit references to persons, places, and events of that time. The woman who is its subject was called “Lise” in the first printing of the work, perhaps a Berryman equivalent for the “Laura” of Petrarch's sonnets. In reprintings which followed upon the success of The Dream Songs, however, Berryman restored his...

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See Also:

• John Berryman (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
• John Berryman (Poetry)