Great Regulars: Despite [John] Berryman's assertion

that "Henry" is "not the poet, not me", Henry's life, like Berryman's, encompasses loss (there are elegies for many of Berryman's friends), lust (affairs, and various marriages), literary fame, drink and depression. Berryman's father had committed suicide in 1926, and this is arguably the first and most significant loss or "departure" hanging over the whole sequence. Berryman also took his own life, jumping from the Washington Avenue Bridge in Minnesota.

from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: Dream Song 1 by John Berryman

~~~~~~~~~~~