These poems, and some of C. Fox Smith's that I just read (never heard of the lady before - shame on me), lend themselves perfectly to songs, though not exactly folk songs. CFS seems to be slightly more "folk" than Hardy.

Now, if you do not want to mention persons, would you hint us to the sort of changes you are warning against, and the reasons the composers or performers may have had? Old-fashioned language? Bad poetry? Or just not fitting my ingenious melody ("Cinderella's sisters' method", as SPB and Blandiver seem to think)?