FORM -simplicity of words, 1rst line all 1syllable, almost childlike -plays with words, figurative language, a world/alone

= could have said the worl d, contrast small/large, contradictory almost would seem to make more sense to say "as small as alone and as large as a world", could be playing on what a small world and the sentiment of emptiness in solitude = less direct, cou ld lose smth, but losing someone (you/me), talking here about losing yourself fi guratively, forgetting maybe who you really are..than it seems, less obvious , more profound, -rhythm of the poem, 8,11,10,10 -simplicity of the rhyme AA BB couplets -like a song or nursery rhyme with assonance (home/stone) almost like an interna l rhyme, alliterations smooth/stone/small, repetition asx4 -no caps, typical of Cummings -makes the one caps more important, "For" as in because = conclusion= makes the poem a lot more serious, -moves from a description of their afternoon to a generalisation with we, almost like stating a universal truth (ee one of the easiest rhymes, as if an easy to remember maxim), involves the reader and puts them on a par with himself = give s importance -concludes that at sea you find yourself, you reconnect with yourself, with your soul, as if the whole poem was a metaphor, the girls each found their real selves, what they were really like FOND -self-awareness -it's in the losing that one finds oneself -role of nature

syllabic: a rhyme in which the last syllable of each word sounds the same but do es not necessarily contain vowels. (cleaver, silver, or pitter, patter) imperfect (or near): a rhyme between a stressed and an unstressed syllable. (win g, caring) semirhyme: a rhyme with an extra syllable on one word. (bend, ending) forced (or oblique): a rhyme with an imperfect match in sound. (green, fiend; on e, thumb) assonance: matching vowels. (shake, hate) Assonance is sometimes used to refer t o slant rhymes. consonance: matching consonants. (rabies, robbers) half rhyme (or slant rhyme): matching final consonants. (bent, ant) pararhyme: all consonants match. (tell, tall) alliteration (or head rhyme): matching initial consonants. (short, ship) 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.