The Cremation of Sam McGee Analysis

1There are strange things done in the midnight sun
2By the men who moil for gold;
3The Arctic trails have their secret tales
4That would make your blood run cold;
5The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
6But the queerest they ever did see
7Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
8I cremated Sam McGee.

9Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
10 Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.
11 He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
12 Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell".

13 On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.
14 Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
15 If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see;
16 It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

17 And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
18 And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe,
19 He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess;
20 And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

21 Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan:
22 "It's the cursèe cold, and it's got right hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.
23 Yet 'taint being dead -- it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;
24 So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains."

25 A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
26 And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
27 He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;
28 And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

29 There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,
30 With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;
31 It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains,
32 But you promised true, and it's up to you to cremate those last remains."

33 Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
34 In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.
35 In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,
36 Howled out their woes to the homeless snows -- O God! how I loathed the thing.

37 And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
38 And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
39 The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
40 And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

41 Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
42 It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May."
43 And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
44 Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

45 Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
46 Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;
47 The flames just soared, and the furnace roared -- such a blaze you seldom see;
48 And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

49 Then I made a hike, for I did'nt like to hear him sizzle so;
50 And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.
51 It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why;
52 And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

53 I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
54 But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;
55 I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside.
56 I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked;" ... then the door I opened wide.
57 And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
58 And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: "Please close that door.
59 It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm --
60 Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

61 There are strange things done in the midnight sun
62By the men who moil for gold;
63 The Arctic trails have their secret tales
64That would make your blood run cold;
65 The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
66But the queerest they ever did see
67 Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
68I cremated Sam McGee.

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I cannot find the differences on Sam McGee and the Narrator. I am doing Homework on this poem. Can you tell me the Key Differences on the two men?

| Posted on 2009-10-20 | by a guest

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Stanza 1
In this opening stanza, Service sets a mood of mystery and suspense. By using words like strange, midnight, and secret, and phrases like “make your blood run cold,” “queer sights,” and “the queerest I ever did see,” the reader anticipates that something unnerving will occur. The final line of the stanza (“I cremated Sam McGee.”) suggests a violent end to Sam McGee and the involvement of the speaker in that death. Even before Service uses the word “cold,” he chills the reader by introducing the “midnight sun,” “the Arctic trails,” and “the Northern Lights.” The inclusion of icy Lake LaBarge reinforces the feeling of coldness.
Stanzas 2-3
Service introduces Sam McGee. Hailing from the warm South, Sam is always cold in the Yukon. There appears to be some confusion as to why Sam left his warm Southern home. He says “he’d ‘sooner live in hell’,” but this land of gold holds him “like a spell.” Interestingly, it is “the land of gold,” not the gold itself, that has this strange hold on Sam McGee. The Christmas Day trip over the Dawson trail begins the action of the poem in a bitter, menacing cold. The speaker describes the cold in stark, uncompromising terms — it “stabbed like a driven nail” and froze eyelashes shut. “It wasn’t much fun,” adds the speaker, and the other mush-ers recognize the hazards of this way of life. They don’t complain, but Sam not only complains, he “whimpers.”
Stanzas 4-6
In these stanzas, Sam tells the speaker (“Cap”) about his fear of being buried in an icy grave and makes Cap promise to cremate his corpse when he dies. Service prepares the reader for Sam’s demise. First, Sam states that he will “cash in this trip,” adding, “I guess,” which suggests more finality than uncertainty. Sam seems depressed, moans, looks “ghastly pale,” and becomes incoherent (“rave[s] all day”). By nightfall, Sam is a frozen corpse.
The stunning visual beauty of the night sky (“the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe”) might be overlooked in these stanzas is. The word “dancing” should stand out as providing an under-current of joy and happiness to contrast with the bitter cold and the strangeness of Sam’s last request. It might offer an explanation of the spell of the land that holds men like Sam. Also, the dancing stars echo the Northern Lights of the opening stanza and foreshadow the flames of Sam’s “crematorium.”
Stanzas 7-9
These stanzas detail the speaker’s trials and tribulations with the frozen body of Sam McGee. Cap has lashed the frozen corpse to the sled as he continues on his journey across the frozen land. There is little description of the landscape, the weather, or anything else in this section unless it refers to the frozen body of Sam McGee. It appears that Cap makes the travels alone, with no other companions than the dogs. The speaker appears to be driven to the brink of madness. He is described as “horror-driven” in stanza 7; he curses “that load” in stanza 8; he talks of the “quiet clay” growing “heavy and heavier,” and that he “felt half mad.” He even refers to the corpse as a “hateful thing” at the end of stanza 9.
The mood of these stanzas is bleak. Long nights, lone firelight, and dogs howling indicate the gloom. The frozen corpse of Sam McGee “talks” to Cap and listens (“harkens”) when he sings to it. Additional elements, no breath in the land of death, tired dogs howling their woes, a low food supply, a bad trail, and the near-madness of Cap coupled with the grin of the frozen corpse all contribute to a dark picture of despair and misery.
Stanzas 10-11
Cap’s arrival at the shores of Lake Lebarge signals a shift in mood and action. This section begins by suggesting the oppressive bleakness of the previous nine stanzas will continue. But, the use of the verb “stuffed” in the last line of stanza 11 and the frenetic action of tearing out planks and lighting a fire begin the transition from the somber to the comic. The overplayed sudden cry of “Here is my cre-ma-tor-eum” lightens the mood. When Cap stuffs Sam into the fire, the questioning of whether the poet’s motives are comic or tragic begins.
Stanzas 12-13
Before the poem’s climax, Service takes a brief pause, a two-stanza caesura. The activities of stanza 12 echo the despair of stanzas 6,7 and 8, with scowling heavens, howling winds, and icy cold. The dancing stars, however, replace the death images with one of delight and amusement, cleverly anticipating the poem’s unforgettable ending.
Stanza 14
The unexpected sight of Sam McGee sitting in the middle of the fire presents a far more comic image than the scriptural portrayal of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who come out of the furnance unscathed in the Book of Daniel. The smile that Sam wears is far warmer (pun intended) than the grin his frozen corpse displayed back in stanza 9. The admonition to close the door or the cold will get in contrasts with Sam’s earlier situation where he whimpered and slept beneath the snow. Sam’s earlier insistence for cremation is also transformed from a morbid request to a signal that nothing untoward will happen. The twist of the final line of stanza 14 elicits a nod of admiration to Service for evoking humor from a man “freezing to death.”
Stanzas 15
The cold and frightening images of the opening stanza have been completely transformed even though the words are repeated in the conclusion. The unnerving images of Lake Lebarge, and the secret tales of the Arctic have lost their power to chill. The bleak descriptions of death are replaced by the image of Sam McGee sitting in the middle of the fire, telling Cap to shut the door so as not to let in the cold.

| Posted on 2009-01-11 | by a guest

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I need help with homework on how to read the poem The Cremation of Sam McGee. Have to write the meaning of each stanza. Don't understand. Could you please try to post any links or info on each stanza. Only if you have time though.

| Posted on 2008-05-27 | by a guest

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| Posted on 2007-04-28 | by a guest