The structure of this piece is based on the centuries’-old cumulative verse, The House That Jack Built, which begins--
This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the rat that ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cat that killed the rat ...
And so on. There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is similar. Unlike those nursery rhymes, however, This is the world follows a sequence to its cyclic conclusion, with a promise—or portent—of starting over, ad infinitum. History repeats, as it's been repeatedly said.
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