Never Lose Hope

A detailed Summary of Never Lose Hope

William Blake, born on November 28, 1757, in London is one of the greatest English poets. His work is studied today all over the world. One of Blake's poems, "The Chimney Sweeper", shows many signs of immortality. In this poem, immortality can only be reached by maintaining hope in a hopeless world and embracing happiness. An example of this is line 20: "He'd have God for his father, and never want joy". Immortality is something people have chased for years and have never been able to capture. In Webster's dictionary, immortality is stated as, "Not mortal, deathless, living or lasting forever." In "The Chimney Sweeper", Blake saw immortality in a different sense than Webster states. Blake saw immortality as happiness throughout life and the importance of hope.

"The Chimney Sweeper" is a great title for Blake's poem. The title is a symbol representing the harsh life of a chimney sweeper and his life as a child. He states, "When my mother died I was very young, and my father sold me while yet my tongue", (ln 1-2). This is saying that his mother died when he was young and his father gave him up. Blake's unhappiness resembles being mortal in a sense that his unhappiness is like being dead. Blake has two meanings wh

In line nine, there is a change to a peaceful tone that crescendos throughout the stanza to become a more evil or bleak tone. Stanza three is stating that he is going to be a chimney sweeper for the rest of his life and he is starting to realize this fact. The obvious of line twelve, "Were all of them locked up in coffins of black", is saying that he is trapped as a chimney sweeper. The not so obvious states that he is locked in a black coffin of unhappiness, a world without hope.

The last stanza in lines twenty-one and twenty-two are stating only the obvious. The author is saying early the next morning the workers woke up and got to work. Lines twenty-three and twenty-four say "Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm; So if all do their duty they need not fear harm" (ln 23-24). In line twenty-three Blake is saying that it was cold outside, but since Tom has let God into his life it filled a hole inside of him, which can keep him warm. This is when Tom becomes immortal in the poem. The last line of the poem is simply stating that if a person does what God wants they will not have to face mortality. Line twenty-four has a moral in the poem that relates to life. If one excepts God, than one does not have to worry about a finite existence.

One can see how the poem relates to life. There are a lot of things that one can substitute in for God that will make one happy. For instance a spouse or mate. Having a spouse can fill a whole in ones heart just like God filled in Tom's. Losing that thing that fills in ones whole can create a sense of mortality or unhappiness. From personal experience, having a girlfriend or any other sense of happiness creates immortality in ones life.

Now Blake introduces a new ch

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hush Tom, Chimney Sweeper, Tom God, He'd God, Tom's Losing, Tom Dacre, Sweeper Blake, chimney sweeper, Webster Blake, London English, William Blake, sweeper blake, chimney sweeper blake, chimney sweepers, tom god life, he'd god, line twelve, coffins black, god father, mother died father, tone lines, poem relates life, tom god, key chimney sweepers, blake saying,

Approximate Word count = 1172
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English