A sweet disorder in the dress
-- Speaker (Line 1)

Importance: This line, the first in the poem, introduces its principal theme. Herrick chooses clear, specific language that lays out exactly what this poem is going to be about: an admiration for something that is normally rejected. He finds this disorder to be "sweet," which indicates that it is desirable (1).

A wantonness
-- Speaker (Line 2)

Importance: The use of the word "wantonness" is important here because of its dual meaning (2). To be wanton was to be casual about anything, to be careless about dress, about how one maintained one's home, about how one spent money. But it could also be used to refer to anyone, and particularly a woman, who was careless about sexual morals. The poem is thus linking tidiness with sexual morality, as early modern English culture often did.

An erring lace, which here and there / Enthrals the crimson stomacher
-- Speaker (Lines 5 – 6)

Importance: These lines provide a fine example of...