jonjeffryes's review
3.0
I feel like I would have gotten more out this poem series if I knew more about the life and/or work of Mistress Bradstreet. After reading the poems (or poem...I'm never sure with books like this) I read the notes, and then went back and revisited portions of the text and they made more sense. Then I went to Wikipedia and skimmed a quick bio of Bradstreet and more pieces fell into place. On its own I thought Berryman did a nice job of bringing the hard realities of the colonist's existence to life...but I did find the amount sexuality (or at least what I read as the sexuality...I can never tell if I just have a gutter mind) surprising for a poem about pilgrims. I also like Berryman's syntax...it was kind of like reading Latin.
valerieloveland's review
3.0
John Berryman's [b:The Dream Songs|150236|The Dream Songs|John Berryman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172212018s/150236.jpg|145004] is one of my favorite books. I was excited to read [b:Homage to Mistress Bradstreet|334570|Homage to Mistress Bradstreet|John Berryman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173839938s/334570.jpg|325054] because Berryman is mostly known for his Dream Songs, and I wanted to see what else he wrote.
The book was not as good as the Dream Songs. I liked the Mistress Bradstreet poem (especially living in Massachusetts now). I really enjoyed the writer's unconventional relationship with his subject. I was impressed with his description of childbirth. Berryman also included notes on the poem at the end, and some of those were just as entertaining as the poem.
I really didn't like the poems included in the "Early Poems" section of the book. I didn't like his strict rhyming in these poems, the form really sticks out in an awkward way. I think his later looser forms worked better. He was also pretty traditional with the subject matter in the early poems, and it was a relief to see his style heading toward the unusual. They are also lacking his twisted sense of humor, like Berryman is trying to be super serious.
I liked some of the other poems, but they were mostly the "Nervous Songs" which seemed like a prototype for the Dream Songs, without Henry or Mister Bones, unfortunately.
My favorite poems in the book:
Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (I can't believe Poetry's website includes the whole poem)
The Captain's Song
Young Woman's Song
Song of the Demented Priest
The book was not as good as the Dream Songs. I liked the Mistress Bradstreet poem (especially living in Massachusetts now). I really enjoyed the writer's unconventional relationship with his subject. I was impressed with his description of childbirth. Berryman also included notes on the poem at the end, and some of those were just as entertaining as the poem.
I really didn't like the poems included in the "Early Poems" section of the book. I didn't like his strict rhyming in these poems, the form really sticks out in an awkward way. I think his later looser forms worked better. He was also pretty traditional with the subject matter in the early poems, and it was a relief to see his style heading toward the unusual. They are also lacking his twisted sense of humor, like Berryman is trying to be super serious.
I liked some of the other poems, but they were mostly the "Nervous Songs" which seemed like a prototype for the Dream Songs, without Henry or Mister Bones, unfortunately.
My favorite poems in the book:
Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (I can't believe Poetry's website includes the whole poem)
The Captain's Song
Young Woman's Song
Song of the Demented Priest
the_valiant's review
5.0
Look. Look. I get emotional about poets a lot and at least 73% of the time Im being emotional about poets it's because of John Berryman. Whatever. I'm giving it a 5 for Homage to Mistress Bradstreet bc tbh a lot of his earlier poems are like. they're fine. but they're not Berryman, yknow? He's still shaking stuff out. Like some of them are good poems but they're not the kind that sock you in the chest and make you want to go back in time and sit in a room with him yknow? K Im going to sleep now bye
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