The Cremation of Sam McGee

MP3 Audio CD. The Cremation of Sam McGee is one of the highly successful works of Robert W. Service's collection of poetry. It was printed in 1907 in Songs of a Sourdough. A "sourdough", in this essence, is a native of the Yukon. It is about the cremation of a prospector who freezes to his last breath close to Lake Laberge, spelled as "Lebarge" by Robert, Yukon, Canada, as stated by the man who cremates him.

The evening before his passing the Sam McGee, who is from the illusory village of Plumtree, Tennessee, requests the storyteller "to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains". The storyteller learns that "A pal's last need is a thing to heed", and promises he will actually cremate him. After the death of McGee the next day, the storyteller prepares to drag the corpse near to the "marge (shore or edge) of Lake Lebarge" before he seeks a way to do the sworn cremation, on board a dilapidated steamer known as the Alice May. Robert?s basis for this poem is from an experience of his roommate, Dr. Sugden, who had seen a dead body in the cabin of the ship Olive May.

Robert William Service was a British-Canadian poet and scriber who has always been known as "the Bard of the Yukon". He is most famous for his verses "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first collection, Songs of a Sourdough in 1907; also produced as The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses. His brilliant depictions of the Yukon and its people made it possible that he was a veteran of the Klondike gold rush, despite of the unpunctual bank employee he really was. However, his employment continues to be such a success, his poems were originally welcomed as being coarsely satirical works.