Robert Service (1874-1958) was a British-Canadian Poet known as “the Bard of the Yukon,” named so for his many poems set in the northern wasteland of Canada, including his most famous poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” Born in Lancashire, England, he worked as a bank clerk, and often traveled to the United States and Canada. When his bank sent him to the Yukon, he was caught up in the Klondike Gold Rush and struck literary gold with “The Cremation” and other poems which became immediate successes. Service’s critics often criticized his poems as doggerel; but the financial returns on what he self-effacingly called “verse, not poetry” allowed him to escape poverty and live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Robert Service (1874-1958) was a British-Canadian Poet known as “the Bard of the Yukon,” named so for his many poems set in the northern wasteland of Canada, including his most famous poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” Born in Lancashire, England, he worked as a bank clerk, and often traveled to the United States and Canada. When his bank sent him to the Yukon, he was caught up in the Klondike Gold Rush and struck literary gold with “The Cremation” and other poems which became immediate successes. Service’s critics often criticized his poems as doggerel; but the financial returns on what he self-effacingly called “verse, not poetry” allowed him to escape poverty and live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Comments