"... a song about poverty, hardship and agricultural depression"

I'd say The Farmer's Boy is a shameless tear-jerker, in which the farmer - far from suffering during an agricultural depression - is sufficiently prosperous to take on an additional labourer and then bequeath the farm to him.

Countrylife, when I saw The Seeds of Love cited in answer to my question about examples of 'fornication with faeries', I laughed so much I fell off my soapbox.

I'm still waiting to hear how many of you think that the description of Sharp's approach that heads this thread is fair or accurate.