In the poem "maggie and milly and molly and may" by E. E. Cummings, four young sisters/friends go to the beach, presumably for the first time. In each stanza a girl is described along with an object they have discovered at the beach. The sea that they go to symbolizes life in general, and all the things that they discover corresponds with how through out life people discover their own characteristics and what makes them unique.

During the second stanza, the poem describes Maggie and how she discovered a "shell that sang" and how it made her "forget her troubles." This shows that although Maggie has worries, she is able to appreciate beauty in many forms. Milly, in the third stanza "befriends a stranded star." This demonstrates how Milly is able to show compassion and make friends with even unlikely characters. Molly accidentally locates a crab that...