When Ephraim asks for a pregnant woman to be born into

… D has had
Word from an exroommate, name of Thad,
Whose wife Gin–that will be Virginia–West,
A skier and Phi Bete, is on the nest.
(Ephraim: F)

However, D recalled the name wrong. It was not Virginia West (or West Virginia, an easy trick for the mind to play). So Hans’s representative was born to a woman named “Virgina West” in a state asylum (maybe West Virginia State Asylum).

Ephraim is

… a Greek Jew
Born AD 8 at XANTHOS Where was that?
In Greece WHEN WOLVES & RAVENS WERE IN ROME
(Next day the classical dictionary yielded
A Xanthos on the Asia Minor Coast.)
(Ephraim: C, lns. 3-7)

Therefore, his Latin is lacking, like Merrill’s own (vestigial meaning rudimentary at best or useless at worst). Also, note that David Jackson is better at German so when Ephraim quotes German he may be misquoting.

BITTE NIE ZU AUFEGEBEN is (poor, grammatically incorrect) German for “please never give up.” It should be noted that Ephraim apparently isn’t good at German so he might be misquoting Freud.

It is further implied that Freud has risen a stage to the spirit level and is a patron to someone on Earth since Ephraim seems to know him.

Wilde wrote:

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

– which Tom, the doctor, is complaining about hearing too often.

A folie à duex is French for “a madness shared by two”; also called “the theatric of two,” a folie à duex is a psychiatric syndrome where symptoms of delusions and hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another.

In other words, Tom’s psychiatric explanation is that the Ouija board and Ephraim are just Merrill’s and Jackson’s subconscious creation that allows them to explore their real feelings for another and life.

Note: these are among the perfect ABBA quatrains that Merrill favors as a form of poetic composition. Much of “I” is in ABBA quatrains but the B rhymes are off in several sections.

Merrill (and Jackson) ask if the Book used for the courts on the higher planes is “The Good Book” – which, on Earth, would be considered the Bible. The communication with the spirits would seem to contradict with many Christian’s beliefs (although not necessarily the Gospel) so this is an interesting question.

However, the answering spirit (Ephraim or perhaps Hans) answers simply “YES” without elaboration so it is not clear if they have a different good book or if the Bible is in play.

Beatrice (“Betsy”) Merrill Pincus, born 1937, is James Merrill’s niece and the model for the character of “Ellen Prentiss Cade” in the “lost novel.”

When Ephraim asked James Merill and David Jackson if they knew any young, sane pregnant women respectively answered Betsy and Gin after Ephraim convinced them of a GREAT GENETIC GOD.

In part “D” we get:

Dramatis Personae (a partial list
Which may conveniently be inserted here):

Lodeizen, Hans, 1924-50,
Dutch poet. Author of Het Innerlijk
Behang, &c. Studies in America.
Clever, goodnatured, solitary, blond,
All to a disquieting degree.
Plays a recording of the “Spring” Sonata
One May night when JM has a fever;
Unspoken things divide them from then on.
Dies of leukemia in Switzerland,
The country of a thousand years of peace.
At Stage One when we first get through
–And where he is denied the taste and hearing
Which are Ephraim’s privilege at Six.
(Stage by Stage the taken-leave-of sense
RETURN TO US LIKE PICTURES ON A SCREEN
GROWN SOLID THAT AT 1ST ARE MERELY SEEN)
Hans’s Stage is that of vision pure
And simple: rinse the cup with rum for him,
He cannot find his tongue, his eyes alone
Burn, filling … as this moment do my own.
Patron, that summer, to a holy terror
Known as Joselito, five years old,
On a plantation near Caracas where,
Says Ephraim, he CUTS CANE & RAISES IT