an extremely good poem which understands very well the strengths, purposes, and souls of ballads about small animals (I consider myself to know some or another about that same topic). the ballad takes traditional themes expressed in Scottish ballads and applies them in a way which makes creative use of the realities of the natural world. traditional stock characters of Scottish ballads become mildly occulted insects who nonetheless can be identified through tactful description. happy widows, bereaved maidens, supernatural coachmen, and a faerish devil all take shape in a story with familiar creatures whose spirits we are already intimate with. the mayfly fills this role perhaps best of all as the doomed youth. the ballad allows us to look at familiar themes in familiar ways with attention to a world nonetheless oft forgotten, and as all modern poetry, adds interesting emotional messages which we have trouble connecting to in some historical poems. the mayfly's plight is as familiar as are mayflies. I was kind of waiting for this piece to come out like a concertgoer waiting for tickets and obviously I was right to do so. a very good read.
my only wishes are really SPAG:
In the first stanza of the third canto, I believe the proper spelling is agéd. what is written is aged, said as one syllable and arhythmatic in context. agéd marks a two-syllable, age-Ed. this practice is followed in some, though not all, traditional ballads, but may be helpful for diction.
also, it is proper form to put a quotation mark at the beginning, though not the end, of every line of dialogue which overflows to another line or stanza. i.e.,
"The Sloth went on with frenzied eyes,
"And Frenzied did they stay,
"As they went on a'rambling
"Upon the close of day."
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