If All the World Were Paper



"If all the world were paper
And all the sea were ink,
If all the trees were bread and cheese
What would we do for drink?

If all the world were sand O,
Oh then what should we lack O,
if as they say there were no clay
How should  we take Tobacco?

If all our vessels ran-a,
If none but had a crack-a,
If Spanish apes ate all the grapes
How should we do for  sack-a?

If all the world were men
And men lived all in  trenches,
And there were none but we alone,
How should we do for wenches?

If friars had no bald pates
Nor nuns had no dark  cloisters,
If all the seas were beans and peas
How should we do for oysters?

If there had been no projects
Nor none that did  great wrongs,
If fiddlers shall turn players all
How should we do for songs?

If all things were eternal
And nothing their end bringing,
If this should be, then how should we
Here make an end of singing?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 29, 2023

53 sec read
152

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABA CCXC DDXD XEXE XFBF XGXG XHXH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 870
Words 178
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

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    "If All the World Were Paper" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/3405/if-all-the-world-were-paper>.

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