Come, sportive Fancy! come with me, and trace
The Poet's attic home! the lofty seat
Of th' heav'n-tutor'd Nine! the airy throne
Of bold Imagination, rapture fraught,
Above the herds of mortals. All around
A solemn stillness seems to guard the scene,
Nursing the brood of thought; — a thriving brood,
In the rich mazes of the cultur'd brain.
Upon thy altar, a old worm-eat board,—
The pannel of a broken door, or lid
Of a strong coffer, plac'd on three-legg'd stool,
Stand quires of paper, white and beautiful!
Paper, by destiny ordain'd to be
Scrawl'd e'er and blotted; dash'd, and scratch'd, and torn,
A garret (a habitable attic or small living space at the top of a house) was the least prestigious position in a building, due to the amount of stairs to reach it and its cramped and poor conditions. It has long been synonymous with the struggling artist or poet, who would often live in the cheapest – and poorest – accomodation whilst trying to gain recognition. This poet is so poor, they do not even possess a desk. Seventeen-year-old poet  Thomas Chatterton  committed suicide in his garrret room in 1770 and his death became a symbol of struggling and neglected genius during the Romantic Period. 
 
 (Carl Spitzweg,  The poor poet (Der arme Poet) , 1839, Neue Pinakothek: Munich)
The Poets Garrett 1800