Word: despairingly
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...RELIGIOUS FAITH never entirely defined accompanies Berryman's despair. It is a faith that invokes God as a protector but does not explore the Divine nature. It revolves less around God than around the poet's personal need for Him. The first section of Delusions, Etc. is composed of eight poems patterned on the Roman Catholic liturgical offices of the day, from Lauds to Compline. Other poems in the collection include a number of prayers ("Somber Prayer," "Overseas Prayer," "Usual Prayer," and "The Prayer of the Middle-Aged Man") and a thanksgiving. There is also a poem in honor...
...give any specific idea of what their roots might be and concentrates on the possibility of refuge from his problems in an equally unspecific God. He manages to create a mood in time, but it has neither origins nor resolution. It is a mood of self-centered static despair. Taken in small doses, Berryman's despair is palatable, and the poems are individually very impressive for their not necessarily pleasant combination of craftsmanship and desperation...
...more resilient Berryman still surfaces. There is a wonderful bravura hymn to Beethoven; a hymn to a Minnesota Thanksgiving feast that ends with a hearty "Yippee"; bouquets tossed at Frost and his drinking pal Dylan Thomas, and moments of tenderness toward his wife. But the dominant tone is cold despair. One of the last poems recalls a night spent at Critic Richard Blackmur's house in Maine...
...couple of improbably Snopesian game wardens. (In his Hemingway biography Carlos Baker very properly deals with the incident in a few paragraphs. Apparently Ernest had killed some game out of season, and, considering himself to be in hideous trouble, spent some time skulking through the forest in romantic despair. No one pursued...
...Penn would still be alive. The winner never came. Lindner, playing despite a 100-degree temperature, placed three perfect shots in a row, and it was all over for the Quakers for the third straight year, as Loeb, flat on his face, slammed the ground in fury and despair...