The poetry of Wilhelm Muller, to whom Heine expressed indebtedness for his renewal of the forms of the German
Volkslied, had rarely been discussed in depth prior to this volume originally published in 1970. Cottrell's study is an interpretation of Muller's three most successful song-cycles:
Die schone Mullerin,
Die Winterreise, and
Fruhlingskranz. The first two, interpreted in chapters one and two, are famed through Schubert's musical settings. Chapter three offers an interpretation of the
Fruhlingskranz. A last chapter considers Muller's poetic imagination. Full texts of the poems discussed are included in the Appendix and are indexed by titles and first lines.