Robert W. Service
(1874-1958)
Robert Service will always be associated with the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. Although he found no gold in Alaska, he hit the literary jackpot with his 1907 work Songs of a Sourdough. This was followed by Ballads of a Cheechako (1909) and Rhymes of a Rolling Stone (1912). Unknown to many, Service also wrote an excellent novel, the Trail of Ninety-Eight (1910). This book gives one of the most descriptive and accurate accounts of the Klondike Gold Rush. It is a fast-paced adventure romance worth reading, and provides the key to much that he wrote about in his poems. Service identified himself with the common man. In his later books, he often pokes fun at the literary pretenses of his contemporaries. Ironically, some of his best work hails from the post-WWII period. However, his early verse tops it all, and bears comparison with the best of Rudyard Kipling, John Masefield, and others. Despite a history of heart problems, Service cultivated a positive philosophy which gained him an extra lease on life. His work is plain & down-to-earth, yet often inspiring. His sentiments range the whole gamut of human feeling, from jubilant exhilaration to Rabelaisian coarseness.
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Bibliography:
207,QW Songs
Of A Sourdough (US: The Spell Of The Yukon) [p|1907]
259,QW Ballads
Of A Cheechako [p|1909]
The Trail Of '98 [f|1911]
309 Rhymes
Of A Rolling Stone [p|1912]
The Pretender [f|1914]
The Shooting Of Dan McGrew [p|1915]
315 The
Rhymes Of A Red Cross Man [p|1916]
995 Ballads
Of A Bohemian [p|1921]
Complete Poetical Works Of Robert W Service [p|1921]
The Poisoned Paradise [f|1922]
The Roughneck [f|1923]
The Master Of The Microbe [f|1926]
The House Of Fear [f|1927]
Why Not Grow Young? [n|1928]
Collected Verse Of Robert Service [p|1930]
The Complete Poems Of Robert Service [p|1933]
Twenty Bath-Tub Ballads [p|1939]
Bar-Room Ballads [p|1940]
Ploughman Of The Moon [a|1945]
Harper Of Heaven [a|1948]
Songs Of A Sun-Lover [p|1949]
Rhymes Of A Roughneck [p|1950]
Lyrics Of A Low-Brow [p|1951]
Rhymes Of A Rebel [p|1952]
Carols Of An Old Codger [p|1954]
Rhymes For My Rags [p|1956]
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Web Resources:
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