A day of chores is nothing compared to a lifetime. Even if one of these boys survived his childhood working in chimneys, his future life would be even more work. They would either face serious health problems from all the soot they encountered, or they would be doing intense and very difficult work. For me, the saddest part of the poem is when it says, “And so Tom woke and we got up in the dark/And we went to work with our bags and our brushes./Even though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm./So if all do their duty, they need fear no harm.” This is because Tom realizes that he will be happy once he dies, something no child should ever feel. This is the last stanza of the poem and it was the one that had the greatest impact for me. While children today have the option to skip household chores or take a break, this was not the case before. So you see? You might think a few hours of chores are the end of the world, but your life could be a lot worse. Blake used this poem to criticize the conditions of poor chimney sweeps. No matter how bad your day is, realize how much worse it could be. If you worked as a chimney sweep, you'd be begging to clean