Sachs was above all things a popular poet. He reflects both the good and the bad side of the people he represents. At his best we find in him that mixture of religious gravity with fresh and pungent humour which is so characteristic of the German spirit of those days. The narrative poem “Der Schneider mit dem Panier” is a good example of this, and is free from that coarseness which too often disfigures his writings. Nor must we forget to mention the long poem, “Ein Lobspruch der Stadt Nürnberg,” a descriptive eulogy of his native town. His narrative style is plain and straightforward, his manner pleasingly naive, though often both prolix and prosaic, his humour original and unaffected, if too frequently rough and Rabelaisian. But we can forgive him much for his robust good sense and shrewd irony. The first line of one of his poems—
“In dem Zwanzigsten Kapitel” (of the Bible)
will show how prosaic he can be: his well-known couplet on himself—
“Hans Sachs war ein Schuh-
Macher und Poet dazu,”
is a fair example of the roughness of his versification.
Hans Sachs is buried in St. John’s Churchyard, and what is shown as his grave is numbered 503. But whether that is actually his grave seems to be somewhat uncertain.
On the whole, literature was far behind art in Nuremberg. But we must not pass over the institution of the Spruchsprecher, the poet laureate of the town. He was a speciality of Nuremberg, and had to deal in rhyme with the occasion of all weddings and festivals, when called upon. He rejoiced in a special dress, and was invented, it seems, about the middle of the fifteenth century.