Nuremberg by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A wanderer surveys Nuremberg's castle, churches, sculptures, and streets, recalling Albrecht Durer, Hans Sachs, and the city's artisan Mastersingers. He finds the city's claim to remembrance in its painter and cobbler-poet rather than its rulers, and celebrates the nobility of labor.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Descriptive Poetry, Historical Poetry · 756 words
First lines
In the valley of the Pegnitz, where across broad meadow-lands / Rise the blue Franconian mountains, Nuremberg, the ancient, stands.
Quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song, / Memories haunt thy pointed gables, like the rooks that round them throng:
Genres
- Descriptive Poetry — Rhymed couplets describe the castle courtyard, carved church doorways, bronze apostles, and the ale-house occupying Hans Sachs's former home.
- Historical Poetry — The wanderer's observations prompt recollections of emperors, Albrecht Durer, and the Mastersingers who composed verse alongside their trades.
Tags
medieval architecture · sculpture · artisan poets · labor · historical remembrance
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Nuremberg is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Descriptive Poetry, Historical Poetry
- Length: 756 words
- Structure: 1 section, 26 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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