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Home  »  The Book of the Sonnet  »  John Stuart Blackie (1809–1895)

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

V. The Statue of Albert Dürer at Nürnberg

John Stuart Blackie (1809–1895)

SOLID and square doth master Albert stand,

An air of hardy well-proved thought he wears,

As one that never flinched; and in his hand

The cunning tools of his high art he bears.

From thy grave face severe instructions come;

The peace that ’s born of well-fought fights is thine

Before thy look frivolity is dumb,

And each true workman feels his craft divine.

First-born of Jove, immortal Toil! by thee

This city rose, by thee, so quaintly fair,

It stands, with well-hewn stone in each degree,

Turret, and spire, and carvéd gable rare.

Toil shaped the worlds; and on Earth’s fruitful sod

Man works, a fellow-laborer with God.