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Comparison of Sonnet 116 and The Great Gatsby - Coggle Diagram

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        Love should be the guiding force in life. When a “bark”, that is, a boat, is lost, it would follow the navigational stars, just as a human would pursue their need for true companionship.
        
        Stars were used in Shakespearean times for navigation, especially the North or Pole star. Shakespeare is comparing the star to love, which guides the boat or lover.
        
        ‘ever-fixed mark’ – consistency. Love is an anchor. It is a traditional sea mark and guide for mariners – the North Star – whose value is inestimable although its value has been determined.
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        Love does not alter with time. The speaker considers life to be so brief that it is the equivalent of only hours and weeks, not even months or years.
        
        The line moves quickly when spoken aloud to reflect the rapid passing of time, especially this phrase. It is in contrast with the following line with its stretched-out, long vowels, conveying the contrasting idea of infinite time hence.
        
        “Bears it out” – purposefully ambiguous. It means that faithfulness ‘to the edge of doom’ is in itself the proof of its truth. It also suggests that love is almost a challenge – one has to ‘bear’ it out or endure it, because it involves sacrifice, grief, compromise, disappointment, fear — an endless list derived from the complexity of human relationships. Alternatively, this may also be an intertextual reference to 1 Corinthians 13:7 “Love bears all things”, meaning that love triumphs over hardships such as those named above.
        
        “Edge of doom” - Time and love are not interconnected. Love can exist past one’s time on earth. The “edge of doom” may represent the end of the world, or doomsday; here Shakespeare takes us yet further into the world of hyperbole or exaggeration. It is an interesting contrast to the understatement of the previous line, where life is measured in ‘brief hours and weeks’; diminished rather than inflated.