This edition combinesThe Dream Songs, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1965, andHis Toy, His Dream, His Rest, which won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1969 and contains all 385 songs. OfThe Dream Songs, A. Alvarez wrote inThe Observer, "A major achievement.He has written an elegy on his brilliant generation and, in the process, he has also written an elegy on himself." John Berryman was born in Oklahoma in 1914. The author of several volumes of poetry, of whichThe Dream Songsis considered his masterwork, he died, a suicide, in 1972. This edition combinesThe Dream Songs, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1965, andHis Toy, His Dream, His Rest, which won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1969 and contains all 385 songs. OfThe Dream Songs, A. Alvarez wrote inThe Observer, "A major achievement.He has written an elegy on his brilliant generation and, in the process, he has also written an elegy on himself." Reissued with an introduction by W. S. Mervin, this book stands as a perfect representation of Berryman's originality and technical brilliancefor instance his understanding of the nature and limits of the American epic poem. "The character of Henry [the hero ofThe Dream Songs] is a permanent addition to our literature."James Schevill "A major achievement . . . [Berryman] has written an elegy on his brilliant generation and, in the process, he has also written an elegy on himself."A. Alvarez,The Observer