Ted Berrigan

Jack Love (Texas A&M University)

Ed. by Justin Parks, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 15 Nov 1934
Died 4 Jul 1983
Activity 1954-1983

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist
Poet

Resources

Ted Berrigan often composed his unique, inventive poetry based upon lived experiences. His sons, Anselm and Edmund Berrigan, recall that their father frequently crafted lines from the comfort of his bed in their Manhattan apartment. His entrancing lyrics were based upon popular culture blaring through the living room television, interactions with friends and fellow poets who paid him visits, and domestic life as a parent and husband. For example, his sons suggest that “In the Land of Pygmies & Giants” clearly borrows scenes from Berrigan’s home life. But the poem also intertwines the simplicity of home life with famous lines from a Shakespearean sonnet. Berrigan’s mixture of high and popular culture, and of impersonal thought and personal experience, make his poetry fascinating for readers of his work today.

Berrigan was born in 1934 as Edmund...

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2060 words

Citation: Love, Jack. "Ted Berrigan". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 December 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=393, accessed 09 June 2026.]