The Cremation of Sam McGee
Robert William Service
Poetry Terms
End Rhyme- At the end of each line, the words rhyme with each other. " Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blows and blows/ Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the pole, God only knows..." ( Service 638).Rhyme Scheme- Every sentence in the poem has an end rhyme."If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see;/ It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee." ( Service 638).Idiom- There is an idiom in Stanza 7. " It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: " You may tax your brawn and brains,..." (Service 639).
Historical Reference
"There are strange things done in the midnight sun/ By the men who moil for gold;/ The Arctic trails have their secret tales/ That would make your blood run cold;..." ( Service 637).Explain- The poem is talking about how men went looking for gold in the Arctic, that is a historical reference because men did that in the 1800s.
Connection between poems
I compared The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service to See it Through by Edgar Guest. They both have the same theme which is perseverance. Textual Evidence:The Cremation of Sam McGee- " And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow:/ And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;/ The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;..." ( Service 639).See it Through- " Black may be the clouds about you/ And your future may seem grim,/ But don't let your nerve desert you;..." ( Guest).