With nothing but his violin in tow, the good-for-nothing sets out to explore the world. Eichendorff transforms this into a musical poem, a subtly ironic, poetic ode to a cheerful free spirit, in contrast to the bourgeois Philistine who leads a monotonous existence. The small novel represents a reconciliation of poetry and life, subjectivity and reality, and thus became one of the classics of romantic poetry. This valuable edition not only honors the famous text but also provides access to the deeper layers of the good-for-nothing through notes and an afterword by the renowned Romanticism specialist Helmut Koopmann.