Corinna, pride of Drury-Lane
-- Speaker (Line 1)

Importance: The poem begins here, with an introduction to its central character. Readers are told what the poem will be about: Corinna. The name derives from the Ancient Greek word "Kore," or maiden. "Corin" for a man and "Corinna" for a woman were typical names for shepherds used in pastoral poetry. This Corinna, though, is not the pride of a rural community, but of the slum of Drury-Lane.

For whom no shepherd sighs in vain
-- Speaker (Line 2)

Importance: This line can be read in two ways, both rejections of the typical pastoral romance. One more obvious, reading would be that no shepherd is performing the act of sighing in vain for Corinna, meaning that she is not desirable to any men, the way a woman ought to be. The other puts the emphasis elsewhere: for whom no shepherd sighs –in vain, indicating that she is desirable, but that anyone who...