The 60 sonnets that comprise "Tier rang gewaltig mit Tier", "are dominated by themes of night and death." Although his ABBACDDCEFGEFG rhyme scheme is typical of the sonnet form, Schnack also, "writes in the long line in free rhythms developed in Germany by Ernst Stadler." Patrick Bridgwater, writing in 1985, called "Tier rang gewaltig mit Tier", "without question the best single collection produced by a German war poet in 1914-18." Bridgwater adds, however, that Anton Schnack, "is to this day virtually unknown even in Germany."