‘Master of beauty, craftsman of the snowflake, / inimitable contriver,” John Berryman wrote. “I have made up a morning prayer to you.” It was May 1970, and the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet was at St. Mary’s Hospital in Minneapolis, for a second round of treatment for alcoholism. “You have come to my rescue again & again / in my impassable, sometimes despairing years,” Berryman reflected, “and I believe as fixedly in the Resurrection-appearances to Peter & to Paul / as I believe I sit in this blue chair.”
Berryman is a fascinating — and confounding — study in poetic faith and doubt. …
This article appears as “A Confounding Faith” in the January 25, 2021, print edition of National Review.
Something to Consider
If you enjoyed this article, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS. Members get all of our content (including the magazine), no paywalls or content meters, an advertising-minimal experience, and unique access to our writers and editors (conference calls, social-media groups, etc.). And importantly, NRPLUS members help keep NR going. Consider it?
If you enjoyed this article, and were stimulated by its contents, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS.
