76 Poetry for Students

I guess he’s cooked, and it’s time I looked”; ...

then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the

heart of the furnace roar;

And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and

he said: “Please close that door.

It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in

the cold and storm —

Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s 60

the first time I’ve been warm.”

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, 65

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

Poem Summary.

Stanza 1:

In this opening stanza, Service sets a mood of

mystery and suspense. By using words like strange,

midnight, and secret, and phrases like “make your

blood run cold,” “queer sights,” and “the queerest

I ever did see,” the reader anticipates that some-

thing unnerving will occur. The final line of the

stanza (“I cremated Sam McGee.”) suggests a vio-

lent end to Sam McGee and the involvement of the

speaker in that death. Even before Service uses the

word “cold,” he chills the reader by introducing the

“midnight sun,” “the Arctic trails,” and “the North-

ern Lights.” The inclusion of icy Lake LaBarge re-

inforces the feeling of coldness.

Stanzas 2-3:

Service introduces Sam McGee. Hailing from

the warm South, Sam is always cold in the Yukon.

There appears to be some confusion as to why Sam

left his warm Southern home. He says “he’d

‘sooner live in hell’,” but this land of gold holds

him “like a spell.” Interestingly, it is “the land of

gold,” not the gold itself, that has this strange hold

on Sam McGee. The Christmas Day trip over the

Dawson trail begins the action of the poem in a bit-

ter, menacing cold. The speaker describes the cold

in stark, uncompromising terms—it “stabbed like

a driven nail” and froze eyelashes shut. “It wasn’t

much fun,” adds the speaker, and the other mush-

ers recognize the hazards of this way of life. They

don’t complain, but Sam not only complains, he

“whimpers.”

Stanzas 4-6:

In these stanzas, Sam tells the speaker (“Cap”)

about his fear of being buried in an icy grave and

makes Cap promise to cremate his corpse when he

dies. Service prepares the reader for Sam’s demise.

First, Sam states that he will “cash in this trip,”

adding, “I guess,” which suggests more finality

than uncertainty. Sam seems depressed, moans,

looks “ghastly pale,” and becomes incoherent

The Cremation of Sam McGee

Media

Adaptations

• A 12-minute short film, directed by Bob Jacobs,
  was released in 1982 by The Film Farm and dis-
  tributed by EBE.


• A website featuring the work of Tom Byrne, an
  actor who has performed the works of Robert
  W. Service for more than 20 years, can be found
  at http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/service/index.
  htm. The site features CDs, audiocassettes,
  videos, and show bookings.


• At http://www.rwservice.com, Les McLaughlin, Tracey
  Brown and Randall Prescott have produced a
  CD of Service’s work set to music. Sound clips
  are available at the website.


• Blue Frog Records, which can be found at http://www.
  bluefrogmusic.com, presents an album of songs
  inspired by the poetry of Robert W. Service, ti-
  tled Out of Service.Two additional poems from
  Robert Service complement “The Cremation of
  Sam McGee.” “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”
  tells of the “spell of the Yukon” and the “gnaw-
  ing hunger of lonely men for a home and all that
  it means.” By the end of the poem, ironic com-
  edy comes into play: there is shooting; someone
  steals a cache of gold, and Lou turns out to be
  no lady at all. “The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill”
  is a good comparison poem to “The Cremation
  of Sam McGee.” A similar plot line results in a
  more comical approach and an equally comical
  ending. “The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill”
  makes no pretense of being serious.