lowliness

The seething lyrics fixate on the lowliness of the human condition.

The man they considered the town drunk had shamed them by pointing out the lowliness of their deed.

They made her aware of her own lowliness, her plain looks, her lack of aspirations, her ignorance of so many things.

“The word mean has more than one definition, Miss Gilly. Here the poet is talking about humility, lowliness, not”—he laughed softly—“not bad nature.”

All of the synonyms that go with modesty, such as “meekness” and “lowliness,” reinforce this definition.