“desert a beggar born”
'Desert' here means merit, worth, or deserving talent — not the wasteland. The line says that genuine virtue and ability are born into poverty and social obscurity, denied the recognition they earn. The injustice is foundational: the world does not reward what is good.
“needy nothing trimm'd in jollity”
'Needy nothing' means a person of no worth or substance who nonetheless lacks nothing materially. 'Trimm'd' means dressed, adorned, or decked out; 'jollity' means festive finery, gaiety, and show. The line pairs this with the previous one as a deliberate contrast: merit goes hungry while emptiness is dressed in luxury.
“maiden virtue rudely strumpeted”
'Strumpeted' means made into a strumpet — publicly dishonoured and prostituted. A strumpet was a prostitute; to strumpet a person is to treat their virtue as something that can be bought, sold, or defiled. The adverb 'rudely' adds violence: innocence is not merely neglected but actively degraded.
“simple truth miscall'd simplicity”
'Simplicity' in this period carried a derogatory second meaning: foolishness, feeble-mindedness, or lack of sophistication. The line complains that honest, plain speaking ('simple truth') gets dismissed as stupidity. The wordplay turns the insult back on the accusers: the world mistakes directness for dimness.
“Tir'd with all these, from these would I be gone, Save that, to die, I leave my love alone”
The closing couplet is the sonnet's volta — its turn. The first line of the couplet echoes the opening line almost word for word, sealing the catalogue; 'Save that' then provides the single exception that reverses everything. The poet would welcome death, but dying means abandoning his beloved — and that one fact is enough to keep him alive in a world he has spent twelve lines condemning.
historical The sonnet form