If I Were King
I often wish I were a King,And then I could do anything.
If only I were King of Spain,I’d take my hat off in the rain.
If only I were King of France,I wouldn’t brush my hair for aunts.
I think, if I were King of Greece,I’d push things off the mantelpiece.
If I were King of Norroway,I’d ask an elephant to stay.
If I were King of Babylon,I’d leave my button gloves undone.
If I were King of Timbuctoo,I’d think of lovely things to do.
If I were King of anything,I’d tell the soldiers, “I’m the King!”
Words in this poem
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
If I Were King is in the public domain. This text is taken from When We Were Very Young, Project Gutenberg ebook #70271; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: A. A. Milne, If I Were King, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/if-i-were-king.html, id L27217.
Form and metre
If I Were King is 16 lines in 8 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA kingA · anythingA
- 2 AA spainA · rainA
- 4 AA greeceA · mantelpieceA
- 5 AA norrowayA · stayA
- 7 AA timbuctooA · doA
- 8 AA anythingA · kingA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I often wish I were a King, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And then I could do anything. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| If only I were King of Spain, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I’d take my hat off in the rain. | 8 | ········ |
| If only I were King of France, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I wouldn’t brush my hair for aunts. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I think, if I were King of Greece, | 8 | ········ |
| I’d push things off the mantelpiece. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| If I were King of Norroway, | 8 | ········ |
| I’d ask an elephant to stay. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| If I were King of Babylon, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I’d leave my button gloves undone. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| If I were King of Timbuctoo, | 8 | ········ |
| I’d think of lovely things to do. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| If I were King of anything, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I’d tell the soldiers, “I’m the King!” | 8 | ···/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.