Books with author Service Robert W. (Robert Wi 1874-1958

When Robert W. Service was transferred to the Whitehorse Branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in the Yukon Territory in 1904, six years after the Klondike Gold Rush, his career as a world-famous poet would soon begin. Inspired by the beauty of the Yukon wilderness, Service would write some of the most expressive poetry of the age depicting the trials and tribulations of the Yukon gold mining life. "Best Tales of the Yukon" collects together forty-seven of these poems. Selected from two of his earliest volumes, "Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses" and "Ballads of a Cheechako", this volumes includes some of Service’s most memorable poetry including the classics "The Shooting of Dan McGrew", "The Law of the Yukon", and "The Cremation of Sam McGee".

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This book is a compilation of poems talking about nature and adventure in the wilderness. Known as the Bard of the Yukon and as a people's poet, Robert Service immortalized his experience with the Yukon and its gold rush and this collection of poetry. While some poems are anecdotal and amusing, others capture the raw brilliance that frontiers evoke and the ever pioneering spirit of man.

Robert W. Service's 1912 collection of poems is thoughtful and insightful. A nomadic man, Service spent many years living and interacting with Canada's natural and breathtaking landscapes. Service's poetry touches on many subjects including: what it means to be a nomadic; the importance of religion; aging; scepticism in religion; and an appreciation of nature.

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Songs of a Sourdough is a book of poetry published in 1907 by Robert W. Service. In the United States, the book was published under the title The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses.The book is well known for its verse about the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon a decade earlier, particularly the long, humorous ballads, "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee."Songs of a Sourdough has sold more than three million copies.Service, an employee of the Imperial Bank of Canada, was posted to Whitehorse, Yukon, in 1904. He took part in the extremely active Whitehorse social life. As was popular at the time he recited at concerts things like "Casey at the Bat" and "Gunga Din", but they were getting stale.One day (Service later wrote), while pondering what to recite at an upcoming church concert he met E.J. "Stroller" White, editor of the Whitehorse Star. White suggested: "Why don’t you write a poem for it? Give us something about our own bit of earth. We sure would appreciate it. There’s a rich paystreak waiting for someone to work. Why don’t you go in and stake it?"Out on a walk one Saturday night, Service heard the sounds of revelry coming from a saloon, and the phrase "A bunch of the boys were whooping it up" popped into his head. Inspired, he ran to the bank to write it down (almost being shot as a burglar), and by the next morning "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" was complete.A month or so later he heard a gold rush yarn from a Dawson mining man about a fellow who cremated his pal. He spent the night walking in the woods composing "The Cremation of Sam McGee," and wrote it down from memory the next day.Other verses quickly followed. In the early spring he stood above the heights of Miles Canyon and the line "I have gazed on naked grandeur where there’s nothing else to gaze on" came into his mind and again he hammered out a complete poem “The Call of the Wild". Conversations with locals led Service to write about things he had not seen (some of which had not actually happened) as well. He did not set foot in Dawson City until 1908, arriving in the Klondike ten years after the Gold Rush when his renown as a writer was already established.After having collected enough poems for a book, Service sent the poems to his father, who had emigrated to Toronto, and asked him to find a printing house so they could make it into a booklet. He enclosed a check to cover the costs and intended to give these booklets away to his friends in Whitehorse for Christmas. His father took the manuscript to William Briggs in Toronto, whose employees loved the book. The foreman and printers recited the ballads while they worked. A salesman read the proofs out loud as they came off the typesetting machines. An enterprising salesman sold 1700 copies in advance orders from galley proofs. The publisher sent Robert's check back to him and offered a ten percent royalty contract for the book.Service's book, Songs of a Sourdough, was an immediate success. It went through seven printings even before its official release date. Ultimately, Briggs sold fifteen impressions in 1907. That same year there was an edition in New York, Philadelphia, and London. The London publisher, T. Fisher Unwin, struck a twenty-third printing in 1910, and thirteen more by 1917.When copies of the book reached Whitehorse, Robert's own minister took him aside to let him know how wicked were his stories. Service hung his head in shame. But, that summer, tourists from the south arrived in Whitehorse looking for the famous poet; and he autographed many of his books.Service eventually earned in excess of $100,000 for Songs of a Sourdough alone.

The Land God ForgotThe Spell of the YukonThe Heart of the SourdoughThe Three VoicesThe Law of the YukonThe Parson's SonThe Call of the WildThe Lone TrailThe PinesThe Lure of Little VoicesThe Song of the Wage-SlaveGrinThe Shooting of Dan McGrewThe Cremation of Sam McGeeMy MadonnaUnforgottenThe ReckoningQuatrainsThe Men That Don't Fit InMusic in the BushThe Rhyme of the Remittance ManThe Low-Down WhiteThe Little Old Log CabinThe Younger SonThe March of the Dead"Fighting Mac"The Woman and the AngelThe Rhyme of the Restless OnesNew Year's EveComfortThe HarpyPremonitionThe TrampsL'Envoi