What John Berryman’s Lectures Revealed About Young Shakespeare—and Himself

In 1951, John Berryman was a 36-year-old American poet not yet widely recognized. His first marriage was ending, but he had just earned the Alfred Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, which provided financial support and time for his work. This fellowship required him to give four public lectures, one of which focused on Shakespeare. Berryman was also working on other projects, including an unfinished play about the French revolutionary Mirabeau, a long poem titled Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, and a biography of Stephen Crane. His wife, Eileen, noted his struggles with alcohol and smoking during this period, as well as the pressure he felt to succeed with his lectures.

Berryman’s first lecture, titled Shakespeare at Thirty, was delivered in March 1951 to Princeton faculty, many of whom doubted his qualifications to discuss Shakespeare without a Ph.D. Berryman, dressed in a grey flannel suit, invited the audience to imagine Shakespeare on April 22, 1594, his 30th birthday. He described Shakespeare as an emerging but still relatively unknown figure, highlighting the deaths of rival playwrights like Christopher Marlowe, John Lyly, and Thomas Kyd, which cleared a path for Shakespeare’s future success. Berryman’s lecture captivated the audience, marking a turning point in his academic reputation and convincing him of his skill as a lecturer.

In 1592, London was devastated by a severe plague outbreak, which killed at least 15,000 people—about 10% of the city’s population—over 24 months. Theatres, including those where Shakespeare worked, were closed for 20 of the next 22 months due to public gathering bans. This economic crisis threatened Shakespeare’s livelihood as an actor and playwright. The plague also disrupted traditional burial practices, with mass unmarked graves used outside the city. Shakespeare’s fellow dramatist Thomas Dekker described the horrors of the plague, including families dying together and widespread despair.

Before the plague, London’s theatre industry was booming but still new and unstable. The first permanent playhouse, the Theatre, opened in 1576 in Shoreditch, followed by others like the Curtain and the Rose. These venues gave theatre a new cultural legitimacy. In 1592, popular playwrights included Robert Greene, Thomas Kyd, and Christopher Marlowe, while Shakespeare was a minor figure. Greene mocked Shakespeare in print as an upstart crow, a term referring to someone who rises above their station without proper credentials. By 1593–94, Shakespeare’s narrative poems Venus and Adonis and Lucrece were published, marking his growing recognition.

Berryman’s Shakespeare at Thirty lecture was so well-received that it filled the Princeton lecture hall beyond capacity. His second lecture, on the character of Macbeth, also drew large crowds. These lectures established his reputation as a serious scholar and convinced him of his talent for public speaking. The success led to his appointment as the Elliston Chair of Poetry at the University of Cincinnati, where he reprised his Shakespeare lecture. His wife, Eileen, noted the onset of Berrymania among Cincinnati’s literati and reconciled with him. This period marked the beginning of Berryman’s rise to national recognition as a poet.

Berryman achieved significant literary success in the 1960s, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1965, the National Book Award, and the Bollingen Prize in 1969. However, his career was marked by personal struggles, including three marriages and substance abuse issues. He moved frequently between prestigious institutions. On January 7, 1972, Berryman took his own life at age 57, jumping from the Washington Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis. His father had also died by suicide, a fact that haunted Berryman and contributed to his mental health challenges.