Frederick Buechner, James Merrill's good friend from Lawrenceville, hanging from tree. "Freddy was an enthusiastic reader and a talented writer, with a confident, energetic mind that reveled in words and stories."
James Merrill and Kimon Friar, Merrill's Amherst teacher and lover. "Short, wiry, and dark, he was a high-minded, charismatic man of letters and an unabashed self-promoter."