The word "insidious" is associated as being gradual, slow, but harmful. The quote "the insidious mastery of song" helps establish the poem's central idea of the loss of innocence because it can be interpreted as the slow but harmful onset of adulthood. I think this is figuratively talking about how adulthood creeps up on to you and you don't see it looming on the horizon, then when it hits you, there is no way to regain that childlike innocent view of the
The word "insidious" is associated as being gradual, slow, but harmful. The quote "the insidious mastery of song" helps establish the poem's central idea of the loss of innocence because it can be interpreted as the slow but harmful onset of adulthood. I think this is figuratively talking about how adulthood creeps up on to you and you don't see it looming on the horizon, then when it hits you, there is no way to regain that childlike innocent view of the