Dan McGrew, Sam McGee: The poems of Robert Service

One of the favorite books of poetry on my shelf, I own several books of Robert Service poetry. His works are among the most delightful to read out loud. This collection, largely gold-rush tales, weaves the spell of the far north with a brilliance untouched by almost any other author. Most of these works have a simple meter and rhyming scheme. You could almost march to them. Yet the breadth of emotion, the intimacy of detail, the colorful description of a world clothed in whites and grays - all combine to place this work in a class of its own.

This is a wonderful collection of the works of Robert Service. The poetry here is the kind that you loved as a kid. Then you grew up and became ultra-sophisticated and you were able to roll your wisdom filled eyes and look down your well educated nose at such work. Fortunately, you soon grow out of this phase of your life (sooner if you are lucky, most get over themselves around the age of 25 or so) and you happen to pick this delightful work up again. Yes, folks, it is still as good as when you were a kid! Actually, I love reading it to my preteen and teen age grandsons. They still appreciate it, and will again after they go through their little bit of growing up. I highly recommend this one for anyone who love reading or loves poetry.

When I studied poetry in school I didn't particularly like most of what we were assigned to read. And then I read Robert Service's poem The Shooting of Dan McGrew and discovered that I liked it. Next I read The Cremation of Sam McGee and decided that poetry could actually be fun. Eventually I read other poems by Robert Service and discovered that, although most were more serious than Dan McGrew and Sam McGee, they still appealed to me. In fact, thanks in large part to Service, I have now developed a taste for other poetry as well. Robert Service was an adventurer as well as a poet and his adventurer's perspective makes his poems particular appealing. If you're a fan of Robert Service this is a good collection of his work. If you haven't read him yet this is a good place to start. And if you think that you don't like poetry, maybe Service will help convert you as he did me.

This is an outstanding collection of great Robert Service Poetry, superbly illustrated.