In this activity, students explore the poem "maggie and milly and molly and may" by E. E. Cummings. This is just one of the numerous poems and lesson plans given so that the depth of the student experience can be adjusted to meet the needs of your students.
Preparation
Make sure that the site is not blocked at your school and that the images and student pages can be viewed.
Review SHMOOP Website milly and molly and may for a more in-depth analysis of the poem and decide on the elements you want your students to learn about.
Make copies of the poem.
If you are having trouble with resources for teaching poetry, maybe some of these links will be useful to you and your students. This is a list of 5 links about poetry, poets, and rhyme. Included are:
On the SHMOOP site be sure check out the Study Questions for some great ideas for writing assignments and Trivia under the Analysis tab for some interesting facts about E. E. Cummings.
More Ways
Students can research poets and poetry, write reports, write their own poetry, publish and share their work. Be sure to check out OTAN's Poetry page with links to other poetry pages.
Program Areas
ASE: High School Diploma
View Lesson Plan
Warm-up
Engagement
Activity: Display this question on the board: "If you went to the beach and found something special, what do you think it might say about you?"
Students complete a quick-write or turn-and-talk with a partner.
Share a few answers aloud and introduce the idea that objects in poems can reflect personalities and emotions.
Introduction
Briefly introduce E. E. Cummings, highlighting his unique style (lowercase letters, lack of punctuation, playful tone).
Show the poem “maggie and milly and molly and may” on the board or hand out printed copies.
Presentation
Enhancement
Go line-by-line analyzing the poem as a group.
Use these guiding questions:
What do each of the girls find at the beach?
How might their discoveries reflect their personalities?
What feelings or images does the beach evoke?
Introduce literary elements such as symbolism,tone, and alliteration.
Practice
Engagement Enhancement
Small Group Activity: Divide students into groups of four. Assign each group one of the girls in the poem (maggie, milly, molly, may).
Each group answers:
What did your character find?
What could it symbolize?
How might this reflect a personality trait?
Can you think of a modern character or friend like this?
Groups create a mini-poster or digital slide summarizing their analysis and present it briefly.
Evaluation
Individual written reflection: “Which character do you relate to most in this poem and why?”
Optional: Create a metaphorical object you might find at the beach that represents something about you.
Application
Enhancement Extension
Creative Extension: For homework or next class, students write their own 6–8 line beach poem following Cummings’s style, where each line reveals something about a different person through the object they find.
CCR Anchor 7 - Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
CCR Anchor 8 - Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
CCR Anchor 9 - Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
CCR Anchor 10 - Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
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attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
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Poetry & the Creative Mind, a celebration of poetry’s influence on other artists and public leaders; a Reading, Conversations & Lecture Series; and an Education Program that provides free resources, such as lesson plans, the award-winning weekly series Teach This Poem, and the Dear Poet project for K–12 teachers and students.
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ChatGPT was used to rewrite this lesson in the WIPPEA format
