Alliteration - the recurrence of initial consonant

sounds - rubber baby buggy bumpers

Allusion - a reference to an event, literary work
or person - I can’t do that because I am not
Superman.
Amplification - repeats a word or expression for
emphasis - Love, real love, takes time.
Analogy - compares two different things that
have some similar characteristics - He is flaky as
a snowstorm.
Anaphora - repeats a word or phrase in
successive phrases - "If you prick us, do we not
bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?”
Maggie Milly Molly May
maggie and milly and molly and may is on the
surface a straightforward short poem about a
group of girls who visit the beach one day, each of
them experiencing what it means to play in their
own unique way. It could even be a kind of nursery
rhyme such is the sing-song rhythm in some of the
lines.
Dig a little deeper into this series of rhyming
couplets however and a completely different
picture emerges. There may still be four girls
innocently playing on a beach (or are there?) but
they're all subject to inner change because of what
they discover on the sand.
 So the basic theme of this poem is identity and
how it evolves depending on experience. The
beach becomes time - the sands of time - and
the sea emotional depth, perhaps the
unconscious, even eternity.
 Using figurative language and poetical
devices, along with a complex metrical pattern,
the poet takes the reader into the lives of
these four individuals via an object or 'thing' - a
shell, a starfish, a crab and a stone - each one
a catalyst for change.
And because the poet is e.e. cummings the form
of the poem is experimental, the syntax irregular,
the theme transcendental.
First published in 1958 in the book 95 Poems, this
poem displays typical features that have become
synonymous with the poet: lower case words,
parentheses and lack of punctuation.
Always pushing the boundaries, cummings
manages to capture so much in such a short
poem, where the local and personal becomes the
universal.
maggie and milly and molly and may
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
Analysis of maggie and milly and molly and
may
maggie and molly and milly and may is a playful
poem it's true, and it may seem like a children's
poem at first glance, but it also holds a wealth of
poetic skill and a smidgeon of philosophical
insight.
This poem is both a pleasure and a paradox; it
delights the tongue because of its sinewy rhythms
and delicious diction (language) but it can
bamboozle the reader who may have to think twice
before 'getting' the line.
 Note also that the poem's tone is one of
innocence and simplicity (the word andoccurs
8 times) the speaker casually relaying the brief
story of these four females who go down to the
beach to play.
 Yet this seeming innocence is offset by the
folk wisdom shown by the speaker in lines 10,
11 and 12. This is someone who has
pondered on the subject of symbolism and
transcendence. Think of William Blake and his
 single grain of sand, which held all of the
world.
Stanza 1
The opening lines are musical, full of rhythm and
rise to meet the reader. Here are four females all
with names that begin with m...mmmmm...not
beyond coincidence? They went down to the
beach - note the past tense - to play one day.
innocent enough but why put this fact in
parantheses?
Parantheses (brackets) are often used for
information that is not so important. They hold the
equivalent of an aside or a whispered suggestion
or idea. So the reader is aware that these last four
words are maybe not crucial to the plot BUT
because a full rhyme is made
between may/day the rhyme stands out even
more!?
Stanza 2
On the beach maggie discovers a shell and puts it
to her ear - haven't we all done this at some time?
- to listen to the sea in musical form. Not only is
the music sweet it sort of helps Maggie escape
from her troubles; a kind of musical healing
occurs.
The previous rhythms are disrupted in this stanza
and the longer three syllable
words discovered and remember slow the action
down (they're amphibrach words, with the stress
on the middle syllable) as maggie goes through
her sensory revelation.
So Maggie needs reassuring and calming down
because she is the anxious one.
Stanza 3
Again, a different rhythm for the second
female milly who is perhaps the loneliest for she
shows affection to a creature that is perhaps
beyond help already - a starfish. Note the
reference to a star, the most distant thing humans
are capable of detecting with the naked eye.
The implication is that milly is attempting to find a
relationship with this creature, not only attempting
but actually she does befriend it. This odd situation
is eccentric enough but note the inverted
syntax: whose rays five languid fingers
were carried along on a nursery rhyme iambic
tetrameter.
And milly needs companionship so that she can
show empathy to others and not be as lonely.
Stanza 4
Next up is molly who is chased by what is probably
a crab, which she finds a horrible thing because it
doesn't run as it should and it certainly shouldn't
be blowing bubbles as it runs.
Because this crab isn't named but only judged it's
likely that molly is afraid of things she doesn't
understand, she runs, is fearful and acts on her
feelings. She attracts things that she fears. Note
the chased/raced connection as the action takes
place.
It's likely that molly has a dark emotional
disturbance which causes her to scare easily and
panic.
Stanza 5
The last of the four is may who takes home a
stone, a symbol of things that last and which may
be a kind of talisman. She wants to remember her
time on the beach so takes with her a souvenir, a
humble stone.
This penultimate stanza is the easiest to read
rhythm-wise, word-wise and reflects may's sense
of self, she is the one most at peace with herself.
Could it be that may is the contemplative one, able
to see the whole big picture because she is so
self-contained.
Stanza 6
Summing up, the speaker is suggesting that the
beach is a place where we might discover new
things about ourselves but that, because we are all
unique individuals, this has to be done according
to who we are.
So it is that each of the four in the poem use
different things - catalysts for change - what works
for one might not work for another.
All the time throughout the poem there is the idea
of the beach (sands of time) intimately related to
the sea (the unconscious, the vast unknown) and
that, as humans with complex psychologies we are
all players.
Summary of maggie and molly and milly and
may
maggie and molly and milly and may breaks with
convention from the very start, which is just the
way Edward Estlin Cummings planned it. He being
an independent spirit wanted exceptional things
from his poetry and so created poems that were
experimental, eccentric and challenging for the
reader.
For example, this poem has lower case letters
starting most of the lines, but note that line 11
differs - there's a capital F in For. Why use lower
case in the first place? Well, it could be that the
poet wanted the reader to know that this was an
unconventional poem and so began with
unconventional syntax (how the clauses and
sentences and grammar are put together).
 Taken literally, this poem is about four girls
who come down to the beach to play. They
discover certain objects and creatures, a shell,
a starfish, a crab and a stone - which is fine
until the reader reaches the last couplet and is
confronted with a kind of universal truth
concerning identity, the loss of and the gaining
of.
 It becomes apparent through closer
examination that this is a poem of depth, both
technically and aesthetically. And it manages
to tweak the heart and mind of the reader
whilst also being playful. Quite a feat.
Inspired by the rhythms and rhymes of nursery
rhyme, this poem takes the reader into another
dimension, one that transcends the literal and
touches on the symbolic.
Figurative Language in maggie and molly and
milly and may
Figurative language features strongly in this poem.
Let's look at some of the devices employed:
Alliteration
Alliterative language brings texture and interesting
sound patterns to a poem, the matching
consonants extending the challenge for the reader.
Note:
maggie and molly and milly and may
sang/so sweetly
stranded star
five languid fingers
blowing bubbles
smooth round stone
whatever we
Assonance
When the same vowels are close to each other in
words, such as:
play one day
sweetly she
Metaphor
When one thing becomes another. Note:
whose rays five languid fingers were (the rays
become the fingers)
Parallelism
When there is a repeat of the grammatical
structure in a sentence or sentences. Note:
as small as a world and as large as alone
Simile
When one thing is like another. Note:
as small as a world and as large as a stone
More Analysis of maggie and molly and milly
and may
maggie and molly and milly and may is a 12 line
poem made up of six couplets, three of which end
in full rhyme. On the page it looks quite formal but
the use of lower case words at the start signal that
this is not a conventional creation.
Rhyme
The opening couplet has full end rhyme
- may/day - which leads the reader to think that the
following couplets may also end likewise, nice and
tidy and familiar. But life is never that
straightforward with a poet like cummings.
In the next couplet there is no full rhyme, just
vowel rhyme - sang/and - and couplet three has
pararhyme - star/were - whilst the next has no
rhyme - thing/and - before the penultimate couplet
returns to full rhyme with stone/alone.
Finally, everything is wrapped up in full rhyme
- me/sea - and normal service is almost resumed.
Why the change in rhyming pattern? Well, it looks
as if the poet is making a statement in connection
with each of the girls' personalities. The rhymes
reflect their wholeness as people so to speak. So
maggie and milly have a long way to go, molly
even further, whilst may is basically sound.
Internal Rhyme
In addition to the obvious end rhymes there is a lot
going on inside the poem with full and near rhyme
interacting. Note:
may/play/rays/sideways/always
chased/raced
blowing/home/stone
down/round
Meter (metre in British English)
Inspired by nursery rhyme and reflecting the
effects of sea waves, this poem has lines that
positively sing, lilt and rise and fall. There is a
varied metrical pattern, dominated by tetrameter
but also including pentameter.
The first line is dactylic tetrameter, that is, four feet
each having two unstressed syllables and the last
syllable stressed, so producing a rise and fall, like
waves unfolding. The second line, of single
syllable words, four feet (tetrameter) is
predominately iambic, one unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed:
maggie and / milly and / molly and / may
went down / to the beach / (to play / one day)

and mag / gie discove / red a shell / that sang

so sweet / ly she could / n’t remem / ber
her trouble / es, and

milly / befriend / ed a strand / ed star

whose rays / five lang / uid fing / ers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing

which raced / sideways / while blow / ing bubb
/ les: and

may came / home with / a smooth / round stone

as small / as a world / and as large / as alone.

For whatev / er we lose / (like a you / or a me)

it’s al / ways ourselves / we find / in the sea
So this poem starts off with a dactylic foot, stress
on the first syllable, and ends with the anapaestic,
stress on the last syllable. And in between this
metrical sandwich are the four couplets which vary
in stress pattern - from the steady iambic
tetrameter of line 6 to the erratic iambics (with
spondees and trochees) of lines 8 and 9.

(Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare)

Antanagoge - places a criticism and compliment
together to lessen the impact - The car is not
pretty but it runs great.
Antimetabole - repeats words or phrases in
reverse order - “ask not what your country can
do for you — ask what you can do for your
country.” (J F Kennedy)
Antiphrasis - uses a word with an opposite
meaning - The Chihuahua was named Goliath.
Antithesis - makes a connection between two
things - “That's one small step for a man, one
giant leap for mankind.” (Neil Armstrong)
Appositive - places a noun or phrase next to
another noun for descriptive purposes - Mary,
queen of the land, hosted the ball.
Enumeratio - makes a point with details -
Renovation included a spa, tennis court, pool
and lounge.
Epanalepsis - repeats something from the
beginning of a sentence at the end - My ears
heard what you said but I couldn’t believe my
ears.
Epithet - using an adjective or adjective phrase
to describe - mesmerizing eyes
Epizeuxis - repeats one word for emphasis - The
amusement park was fun, fun, fun.
Hyperbole - an exaggeration - I have done this a
thousand times.
 Litotes - makes an understatement by denying the opposite
of a word that may have been used - The terms of the
contract are not disagreeable to me.
 Metanoia - corrects or qualifies a statement - You are the
most beautiful woman in this town, nay the entire world.
 Metaphor - compares two things by stating one is the other -
The eyes are the windows of the soul.
 Metonymy - a metaphor where something being compared is
referred to by something closely associated with it - The
knights are loyal to the crown.
 Onomatopoeia - words that imitate the sound they describe -
plunk, whiz, pop
 Oxymoron - a two word paradox - near miss, seriously funny
 Parallelism - uses words or phrases with a similar structure -
I went to the store, parked the car and bought a pizza.
 Simile - compares one object to another - He smokes like a
chimney.
 Understatement - makes an idea less important that it really
is - The hurricane disrupted traffic.