SOURCE: Burchinal, Mary Cacy. “Various Views on the Meter of Hans Sachs.” In Hans Sachs and Goethe: A Study in Meter, pp. 1-22. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1912.

In the following essay, Burchinal considers a wide range of critics and their commentary on Sachs's meter.

For the past thirty years, ever since Goedeke¹, in his introduction to “Dichtungen von Hans Sachs”, ventured to offer opinions on the subject, has a battle waged in regard to the meter of Hans Sachs. A review of what has already been done may throw light on investigations which are to follow and, at the same time, serve to make the subject more clear as to its present status. This discussion has taken many courses; but, on one point all the critics agree (exception being made of Werner Hahn² and Otto Flohr³), that the number of syllables to a verse is, eight for...