Songs Of A Sourdough

Robert William Service was a British-Canadian poet and writer. He was a bank clerk by trade, but spent long periods travelling in Western America and Canada. When his bank sent him to the Yukon, he was inspired by tales of the Klondike Gold Rush, and wrote two poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", which showed remarkable authenticity and enjoyed immediate popularity. Encouraged by this, he quickly wrote more poems on the same themes, which were published as a collection Songs of a Sourdough. Contents: THE LAW OF THE YUKON THE PARSON'S SON THE SPELL OF THE YUKON THE CALL OF THE WILD THE LONE TRAIL THE HEART OF THE SOURDOUGH THE THREE VOICES THE PINES THE HARPY THE LURE OF LITTLE VOICES THE SONG OF THE WAGE-SLAVE GRIN THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW THE CREMATION OF SAM McGEE MY MADONNA UNFORGOTTEN THE RECKONING QUATRAINS THE MEN THAT DON'T FIT IN MUSIC IN THE BUSH THE RHYME OF THE REMITTANCE MAN THE LOW-DOWN WHITE THE LITTLE OLD LOG CABIN THE YOUNGER SON THE MARCH OF THE DEAD "FIGHTING MAC" A LIFE TRAGEDY THE WOMAN AND THE ANGEL THE RHYME OF THE RESTLESS ONES NEW YEAR'S EVE COMFORT PREMONITION THE TRAMPS L'ENVOI

Robert William Service was a British-Canadian poet and writer. He was a bank clerk by trade, but spent long periods travelling in Western America and Canada. When his bank sent him to the Yukon, he was inspired by tales of the Klondike Gold Rush, and wrote two poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", which showed remarkable authenticity and enjoyed immediate popularity. Encouraged by this, he quickly wrote more poems on the same themes, which were published as a collection Songs of a Sourdough. Contents: THE LAW OF THE YUKON THE PARSON'S SON THE SPELL OF THE YUKON THE CALL OF THE WILD THE LONE TRAIL THE HEART OF THE SOURDOUGH THE THREE VOICES THE PINES THE HARPY THE LURE OF LITTLE VOICES THE SONG OF THE WAGE-SLAVE GRIN THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW THE CREMATION OF SAM McGEE MY MADONNA UNFORGOTTEN THE RECKONING QUATRAINS THE MEN THAT DON'T FIT IN MUSIC IN THE BUSH THE RHYME OF THE REMITTANCE MAN THE LOW-DOWN WHITE THE LITTLE OLD LOG CABIN THE YOUNGER SON THE MARCH OF THE DEAD "FIGHTING MAC" A LIFE TRAGEDY THE WOMAN AND THE ANGEL THE RHYME OF THE RESTLESS ONES NEW YEAR'S EVE COMFORT PREMONITION THE TRAMPS L'ENVOI

Robert William Service (1874-1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon". Born in Lancashire of Scottish descent, he was a bank clerk by trade, and spent long periods travelling in Western America and Canada, often in poverty. When his bank sent him to the Yukon, he was inspired by tales of the Klondike Gold Rush, and wrote the poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", which showed remarkable authenticity from an author with no experience of gold-mining, and enjoyed immediate popularity. Encouraged by this, he quickly wrote more poems on the same theme, which were published as Songs of a Sourdough (The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses in the United States edition) and achieved great success.

The lonely sunsets flame and die; The giant valleys gulp the night; The monster mountains scrape the sky, Where eager stars are diamond-bright.

Songs of a Sourdough by Robert W. Service

Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 - September 11, 1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon". Born in Lancashire of Scottish descent, he was a bank clerk by trade, but spent long periods travelling in Western America and Canada, often in some poverty. When his bank sent him to the Yukon, he was inspired by tales of the Klondike Gold Rush, and wrote two poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", which showed remarkable authenticity from an author with no experience of gold-mining, and enjoyed immediate popularity. Encouraged by this, he quickly wrote more poems on the same theme, which were published as Songs of a Sourdough.

The Bard of the Yukon Banker, Hobo, and Klondike Poet Robert William Service was born in Lancashire, Engand in 1874. His mother was an heiress and his father a bank cashier. He was the eldest of 10 children. When Service was 4 years old, he was sent to his grandfather and his 3 aunts in Scotland to live. He wrote his first poem two years later. He was, it seemed, destined to be a poet and a wanderer. In a 1958 CBC television interview, Canadian journalist Pierre Berton asked then 84 year old Robert Service why he had left Scotland and immigrated to Canada. "I wanted freedom," said Service. "I wanted adventure. I got the idea, I want to be a hobo." By the time the Klondike gold rush began, Robert Service was in San Francisco, carrying a hobo's bundle tied to his bindle stick. He used to stand in the street watching the gold prospectors marching off with their sacks, but he never dreamed of going himself. "How could I?" asked Service. "I had no money." Service wandered from California to British Columbia. He arrived in the Yukon in 1905 as a bank clerk and it was there where, surrounded by veterans of the gold rush, he began writing verses about the Yukon. His first book of verses, SONGS OF THE SOURDOUGH, was published to acclaim in 1907, and was reprinted 10 times within the first year. Before his death in 1958, he had published over 1,000 poems and 45 verse collections. The 2-room cabin in Dawson City where Robert Service lived from 1908 until his departure from the Yukon in 1912 is maintained as a Klondike National Historic Site by Parks Canada in honor of the Bard of the Yukon.