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Robert William Service
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Robert William Service Poems
- The Cremation Of Sam Mcgee There are strange things done in ...
- A Grain Of Sand If starry space no limit knows And sun...
- A Hero Three times I had the lust to kill, To clutch a ...
- Home And Love Just Home and Love! the words are small Four ...
- "?" If you had the choice of two women to wed, (Though of ...
- Comfort Say! You've struck a heap of trouble -- Bust in ...
- "Fighting Mac" A Life Tragedy A pistol shot rings round ...
a poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon".
Service is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough (1907; also published as The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses). "These humorous tales in verse were considered doggerel by the literary set, yet remain extremely popular to this day." Songs of a Sourdough has sold more than three million copies, making it the most commercially successful book of poetry of the 20th century.
Life
Early Life
Robert W. Service was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, ... more »
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Quotations
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''“Some praise the Lord for Light,
Robert W. Service
The living spark;
I thank God for the Night
The healing dark.”''
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''“I like to think that when I fall,
Robert W. Service, Ballads of a Bohemian
A rain-drop in Deaths shoreless sea,
This shelf of books along the wall,
Beside my bed, will mourn for me.” ''
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“The Quitter
Robert W. Service
When youre lost in the Wild, and youre scared as a child,
And Death looks you bang in the eye,
And youre sore as a boil, its according to Hoyle
To cock...
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“Have you suffered, starved and triumphed, grovelled down, yet grasped at glory,
Robert W. Service, The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses
Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?
Done things just for the doing, letting babblers tell the stor...
The Cremation Of Sam Mcgee
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.
Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
Though he'd often say in ...
Also, I believe it may be a typo in the second stanza, third line, of Robert William Service's poem Resignation, to begin that line alone with a lowercase o - especially as the second line ends with a period. It should read: Or, as I wear my collars high, how laundry men would gloat!
The first line of Robert William Service's poem Resignation, should read:
I'd hate to be a centipede (of legs I've only two) ,
The poem is written in Iambic heptameter (7 beats=14 syllables, or beats) . Not only does it start the poem out incorrectly with poor context, without the a, the meter and rhythm is thrown off, as well.
I have sat around the dinner table in our log cabin up in northern Maine and recited Services poems to my sons, grandsons and friends. Wonderful memories!
I have memorized and delivered many of the Robert Service poetry at clubs and private parties.
Nice poem
I read the 'shooting of Dan' and learnt it by heart.
It was an experience, I used to say it to my son' and he enjoyed it.
I ought to point out at that time I'd never written any poetry.
Next I read 'The Highwayman' and wrote a tribute poem called 'After The Highwayman. I might now consider writing something in the Robert Service vein. Who knows? '
Summery
Anybody who criticizes Robert W. Service is not only an -hole who knows nothing about poetry, but is severely lacking in intelligence.
Looking for a poem by Robert Service that Begins 'There were two artists A & B
Wrote over 800 poems, surely more than any other poet. My favorites: 'Cocotte' and 'Little moccasins.'