SOURCE: "'Strange Old Man': Thoughts on the Closing Lines of Winterreise," in German Life and Letters 45, No. 2, April, 1992, pp. 109-113.

In the following excerpt on "Der Leiermann"—the final poem in Die Winterreise-Smeed explains the word "wunderlich" as an epithet describing the unreasonably eccentric state of mind and actions of both the hurdy-gurdy man and the Wanderer.

The poetry of Winterreise has for many years now been treated seriously and with respect as a record of ill-fated love, melancholia, cosmic despair or even in cipient schizophrenia;¹ the time is past when the author, Wilhelm Müller, could be brushed aside as a minor talent whose chief merit is to have provided Schubert with song texts. The final poem, 'Der Leiermann', has been singled out for particular attention. The old hurdy-gurdy man stands outside the village in the freezing cold, alone save for the snarling dogs, his begging-plate empty...