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maggie and milly and molly and may
E E Cummings
About E E Cummings
Edward Estlin Cummings (known better as E.E. Cummings) was an American poet who died in 1962. He wrote over two thousand poems during his lifetime, as well as novels, plays, and essays. Cummings is best remembered for breaking the established rules of writing in his poetry: he often didn't follow punctuation rules or use correct spelling in his poems. This became his signature style and made his poetry immediately recognisable to anyone who came across it.
Although his poems are often short, they have many layers of meaning in them. They may be telling one kind of story on the surface, but if you look closely and read carefully, you can uncover other stories too!
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and
milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and
may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea
Available Answers
- 1.
Circle the right word in the following sentences.
- The poem is about four little girls/boys/puppies who go to the beach to play.
- Milly makes friends with a last starfish/crab/sea-slug.
- The "horrible thing" that Molly is chased by is a crab/snake/fish.
- The shell that Maggie discovers makes her happy/sad/angry.
- The last two lines of the poem tell us that the sea is a place that helps us find ourselves/crabs/starfish.
- 2.
Look at the lines below:
"and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and"- What do you learn about how Maggie was feeling when she first got to the beach?
- How does the shell affect Maggie?
- What does this tell you about nature and its effect on us?
- 3.
What is the "horrible thing" chasing Molly? Why do you think so?
- 4.
Look at the lines below:
"may come home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone"- How do you think the stone became smooth and round?
- What does May think about the stone?
- What do you think the words "as large as alone" mean? To answer this question, think about whether you have ever been lonely and how that felt.
- 5.
How do you think the stone became smooth and round?
- 6.
What does May think about the stone?
8 more answer(s) available.