Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 6 |
1.
Then: This sonnet continues the thought of the previous one, which ended with the statement that "flowers distill'd, though they with winter meet, / Leese but their show, their substance still lives sweet." ragged: rough.
3.
vial: metaphorically, a woman. treasure: enrich.
5.
use: lending money at interest. usury: lending money at a predatory rate of interest.
6.
happies: makes happy. pay the willing loan: willingly repay the loan. Metaphorically, the loan is made by the fair young man to a woman. He lends her his essence, and she repays him with a child.
8.
be it: if it were. ten for one: i.e., 10% interest. Ten percent was the highest legal rate of interest, but the poet here speaks of a high rate of interest as a good thing, since the repayment is to be made in children.
10.
refigur'd thee: i.e., looked like you.
13.
self-will'd: 1) obstinate; 2) leaving your inheritance only to yourself.