Abstract: Why did John Berryman commit suicide? The answer can be found in The Dream Songs .In his life, Berryman was frequently haunted by agony, desperation, horror, fe ars, and painful memories.The strongest feeling he had was the sense of loss: h is father's suicide, his friends' tragic death, his own bad relationship with hi s wife, his lover's betrayal, his emotional trauma and mental distress all made him collapse into depression.Berryman's life was filled with unpurified passion and energy, which, like a tight bowstring, put him into a so intense psychologi cal and emotional stress which finally proved to be more than he could bear.