385 poems in three-stanza, 18-line form following the half-mad, guilt-ridden Henry through booze, lust, grief, and the suicides of friends. Berryman invented a new kind of dramatic monologue; Henry and his unnamed friend who calls him "Mr Bones" create a minstrel show of the self in crisis. Dream Song 14 ("Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.") is the perfect encapsulation of postwar American existential comedy.

The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.