Schumann's early songs and the Lieder of his first maturity. Introduction : Schumann's criticism and early Lieder ; Songs of marriage ; Irony and the Heine cycles ; Cycles of wandering ; Romances, ballads, and the via media ; Lyrical schemes : collections of earlier Lieder und Gesänge
Schumann's later songs. The advent of the "new style" and the later cycles ; Poets in review during the later years ; Collections in the new style
Epilogue : reception of the late style.