The poem strikes a continual contrast between light and dark, like the natural, naked whiteness of Tom's hair, and the boy's bodies in heaven, "naked and white," with all of the unnecessary baggage of their labor "left behind."

The poem also contrasts the ease of "sporting in the wind" rather than going into the pits of hellish, dark hot chimneys that is won if the boys are good and do their duty. But this dream is a hope easily accepted and swallowed by children, yet paradise and its reward seems ironically bestowed, unrealistic in its contrast with reality, and ultimately the poet does not seem as confident as the speaker that "Tom, if he'd be a good boy, / He'd have God for his father, and never want joy...and "if all do their duty they need not fear harm." The boys have no comfort other than the hope, perhaps false...
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