78 Poetry for Students

seriousness of the fight for survival in the unfor-

giving Yukon.

Death

“The Cremation of Sam McGee” is filled with

images of death. The frozen corpse of Sam McGee

is the most obvious. But, from the opening lines,

Service talks of “tales / That would make your

blood run cold” and includes at least one reference

to death in succeeding stanzas. Sam says he’d

“sooner live in hell” in stanza 2, and the speaker

talks of the cold that stabs “like a driven nail” in

stanza 3. In stanzas 4 and 5, Sam refers to

“cash[ing] in” and makes his “last request.” The

fear of the “icy grave” prompts him to exact the

promise that Cap will “cremate [his] last remains.”

Cap finds Sam’s frozen corpse on the sled at

the end of stanza 6. “There wasn’t a breath in that

land of death” is the most chilling and direct ref-

erence, not only to the death of Sam, but the deaths

of the many “sourdoughs” claimed by the Yukon

cold. Sam’s body changes into a “load” and a

“thing” that is “loathed” in stanza 8 and is “quiet

clay” and a grinning, “hateful thing” by stanza 9.

The final act of “letting go” takes place over

stanzas 11, 12, and 13. Cap prepares the “cre-ma-

tor-eum,” unceremoniously “stuff[s] in Sam

McGee,” and removes himself from the place be-

cause he does not “like to hear him sizzle so.” Hav-

ing “wrestled with fear” and “sick with dread,” Cap

checks to see what has happened to the body of

Sam. Although not directly stated, it appears Cap

is preparing to retrieve Sam’s ashes as his final act

of mourning. Instead, Service turns the tables with

the image of Sam sitting in the middle of the fire,

telling Cap to shut the door so as not to let in the

cold. This element of redemption and salvation

negates the power of death even in the hostile and

unforgiving cold of the Arctic.

Loyalty

Sam cannot defeat death by himself. Without

Cap’s help, Sam will die. Sam has to depend on

Cap’s loyalty to follow through on his last request.

It is clear from Cap’s thoughts that loyalty is what

compels him to honor Sam’s wish to be cremated.

Such beliefs as “A pal’s last need is a thing to heed”

and “a promise made is a debt unpaid” drive Cap

to comply with Sam’s dying request.

Style.

“The Cremation of Sam McGee” is written in the

form of a ballad. Ignoring the eight-line opening,

the poem follows a regular pattern of four-line stan-

zas composed of two rhyming couplets. The regu-

lar, metronome-like rhythms make this poem (and

others from by Robert Service) easy to memorize

and recite, reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The

Raven.” The reliance on internal rhyme drives the

action of the ballad and enhances the performance

aspect. The opening and closing lines follow the

same metrical and rhyming patterns of the narra-

tive stanzas, but Service reconfigures them into

eight-line stanzas and puts them in italics to create

a mood of mystery and suspense at the beginning,

and comic irony at the end.

Historical Context.

In 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike

River. Because the location was so remote and get-

ting to the strike was a difficult journey, it wasn’t

until 1898 that the “gold rush” actually began in

The Cremation of Sam McGee

Topics for

Further

Study

• Compile a list of what a modern day prospector
  might need for a six-month journey into the
  Yukon wilderness. Use a camping supplies cat-
  alog (such as L.L.Bean’s or Cabela’s) to deter-
  mine weight as well as cost. Decide if the re-
  sults would be worth the time and expense.


• Compose a poem that mimics the rhythm and
  rhyme of “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” You
  might use a title such as “The Citation of
  Tommy B” or “The Vacation of Peggy Lee.”
  Remember to start by creating two lines of 17
  syllables each. The fifth syllable, the tenth syl-
  lable, and the final syllable in each line should
  rhyme.


• To get pure gold, the ore must be mined, treated,
  and refined. Research the environmental impact
  of each of these processes.