i perform basically where English folk are to be found.

I don't make the rules Mike. common usage is common usage. it is your understanding and Jims which is at a huge vaiance with common usage. to most people Donovan and Dylan are folksingers. the yetties and the spinners were folk groups. what they sang is commonly supposed to be folk music.

you know Empson makes this distinction between verse and poetry. and of course he's correct like you are about folk music. but the generality of people couldn't spot the difference between verse and poetry. to most people anything in verse is poetry.

do you really think Empson, Leavis, Tillyard or any of those guys would have spent time arguing with someone who supposed that the limerick about a young man from Australia was poetry?

if you're really an expert, you just get on with what you're doing.

i have my areas of expertise, as i'm sure you have.