Get up, get up for shame
-- Speaker (Line 1)

Importance: In these first lines, the speaker introduces the poem's central narrative. He is trying to convince someone to wake and get out of bed. These words also playfully introduce the poem's key questions about shame and pleasure. "For shame" is an expression, but it also indicates the poem's central moral argument: that there is shame, not in embracing pleasure, but in avoiding it (1).

Get up, sweet slug-a-bed
-- Speaker (Line 5)

Importance: These lines introduce the poem's tone. Although there are many references to the classical world and elevated poetic themes, there are also lines like this one: direct, directive, and playful. These lines are also important because they reveal the relationship between the speaker and Corinna – that they are lovers, sharing a bed, and that they have a pleasant, playful relationship.

When all the birds have matins said, / And sung their thankful hymns, 'tis sin, / Nay, profanation, to...
-- Speaker (Lines 10 – 12)