How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge). (5-6)
“Rags” sounds like what we’d expect a poor child to be wearing, doesn’t it? Here “rags” also describes a metaphorical poverty, the “poor” and tattered quality of the speaker’s poems.
Quote #2
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
The visage was so irksome in my sight, (9-10)
“Unfit for light” and “irksome in my sight”—sounds like the revulsion you’d experience if you saw a kid in nasty “rags.” In other words, this is the speaker’s response to the “poverty” of her work.
Quote #3
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find. (17-18)
The speaker wishes she could “afford” to give her child “better dress,” but all she has is “home-spun cloth.” These lines echo the lines about “rags” earlier, and continue to describe the woman’s book as a poor, destitute child.
Quote #4
In this array, 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.
In critic's hands, beware thou dost not come, (19-20)
“Vulgars” is an important word. It refers to the lower classes, to those that are poor (less educated, less well off financially, etc.). The book belongs among them, so says the speaker. It is too “poor” to hang out with those higher class critics.
Quote #5
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door. (23-24)
Wait a second here, the speaker was angry earlier about having her poems stolen. Now, she’s saying she sold them for money? Hmm. Well, either way, sounds like she needed money and had to do something she didn’t really want to.