A mischievous spirit then......

Maybe the world of middle class scholasticism was perceived as another front on which to fight the class war. In many ways it was a battle he won.

I would say that his ideas have been immensely influential. He has in fact inspired a generation of songwriters to speak from that'educated working class' promontory through the medium of folksong form. I say 'folksong form' to prevent the usual descent into bickering over what is a folksong!