Sonnet 6 by Shakespeare

Sonnet 6 is a sonnet by William Shakespeare, and a continuation of his fifth sonnet.

Synopsis
The opening line of this sonnet leads directly from the end of Sonnet 5, as though the two poems were intended as one, itself perhaps a reference to the idea of pairing through marriage that informs the first 17 sonnets. The sweet "vial" refers to the distillation of perfume from petals mentioned in Sonnet 5, but is now directly explained and expanded as an image of sexual impregnation in order to produce children. The image of "usury" refers to replication of the invested "essence" in offspring, in the same way that money earns interest. The propagation of children can never be exploitative. A tenfold return on the investment is to be desired.