Berryman wrote about shame, like mental illness and lust. He said that he was not writing about himself but about made-up people. Despite this remark, many critics believe Berryman did write about himself. John Berryman's best-known poems were called Dream Songs. He put out the 385 Dream Songs in two books: "77 Dream Songs" and "His Toy, His Dream, His Rest." Later he put them into one book: "The Dream Songs".