Question

how did the poet friends sustain against death etc

Answer 1

The poet immortalizes his beloved through his writings which will continue to live on even after he or his beloved pass away. Material things come up with an expiry date however durable they may initially seem to be. But the people we care about and the values that have been inculcated in us are the things which endure for far longer. In Shakespeare's sonnet, 'Not Marble nor the Gilded Monuments'  the poet conveys the idea of how the subject's love will endure the ravages of time by being immortalized in his work. Secondly, he also believes that poetry has the power to be immutable when it comes to the test of time. Love for our loved ones continues to live long after all our material possessions have ceased to be with us. It is that immense power of endurance which Shakespeare evokes in his sonnet.