Though as the writing of the libretto progressed, certain versions showed Grimes' relations with his apprentice to be paederastic, Pears persuaded Slater to cut the questionable stanzas from the final version. Many scholars, instead of viewing this as a celebration of Grimes' abuse, look at it as Britten's condemnation of the homophobia of his era, and what he understood to be the destructive sociological consequences of it.
Grimes
Britten