The poor poet has no bed: instead he lies on a mattress against the wall of the floor, in a dressing gown, with a sleeping hat on his head.

On the spine of the upright book on the far right are the Latin words: Gradus ad Parnassum (German: Klassen zum Parnass), which is either the title of the main theoretical work published by the Austrian composer Johann Joseph Fux or, most likely, the instructions for writing Latin verses published by the Jesuit priest Paul Aler in Cologne in 1702.

There is a candle in the bottle on the green tiled stove, next to it the wash bowl, and a towel hangs on a clothesline above it.

According to another interpretation, he crushes a flea between his fingers, with which Spitzweg would ironically represent the discrepancy between the poet's claim and his reality.

Spitzweg possibly borrowed his title from the drama by August von Kotzebue, The Poor Poet (1812).

The role model was most likely the German poet Mathias Etenhueber [de], who lived in Munich from 1722 to 1782 and suffered financial hardships.

On September 3, 1989, art robbers stole it together with another one of Spitzweg's works, The Love Letter, from Charlottenburg Palace.

The painting was the subject of the commemorative stamp issued by the Deutsche Post for the 200 years of the birth of Spitzweg, in 2008.