The Character Henry in John Berryman's The Dream Songs

The Character Henry in John Berryman's The Dream Songs

The question that continuously puzzled me as I read through the poems was, "Who is Henry?". He is the main character in John Berryman's The Dream Songs, yet he is very mysterious. He is likely to show up in almost every poem in the book. Analyzing this character is confusing because he is mentioned so many times and in so many different contexts that it is hard to decipher exactly who he is, however it is possible that even the author is not exactly sure who he is.

Berryman introduces Henry into the poems in a subjective manner as just a character in his poems. I think Berryman wanted to write about himself, but it would have felt too personal and revealing for him to openly talk about himself. He, therefore, starts out naming this man Henry and mentions him randomly. He says in poem 4, "There ought to be a law against Henry" (Berryman 6), which to the reader does not make a whole lot of sense and veers away from any emphasis on the author.

The correlation between Henry and the author is not very apparent until later. In poem number 13 Berryman describes Henry. Berryman goes into detail as he explains, "So may be Henry was a human being...He is a human American man. That's true...God's Henry's enemy" (Berryman 15). It is uncanny how closely these lines resemble Berryman's own life. Berryman was obviously a human being, but he was also an American man, who lived a life that most would call grievous. He was so unhappy with life at one point that he tried to commit suicide, unfortunately something his father succeeded at when Berryman was younger. His complicated life could explain why he may feel that God is his enemy. This is where Berryman sort of lets go and starts sharing his own feelings and experiences, but still uses the name Henry to protect himself from the judgment of others.