“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”  -Robert Frost

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ROBERT W. SERVICE
Many sides to this wandering man: A true restless, roaming vagabond, but also a dedicated bank clerk, brief war correspondent, & confirmed Red Cross man (WWI ambulance driver). Ultimately popular & rich, constantly penning verse, ballads & songs.
A believer, attending church, though completely agnostic; a pacifist, while rugged individualist. Traveled England, Scotland & Canada, journeyed from Mexico to Monaco to Turkey. Escaped to America from the German invasion of France. Became GROUNDED IN ALASKA. Died in Brittany, his final home, where he also wintered in Monte Carlo on French Riviera.

Older pages: Life (docs)/ Verse (docs) / Back to top of page

A fully sophisticated dandy in Paris 
... & a rugged romantic, adventurer in the wild!

SPIRIT OF WANDERLUST

As far back as I can remember I have faithfully followed the banner of Romance . It has given color to my life, made me a dreamer of dreams ...   - Robert W. Service, opening lines, The Trail of '98

SERVICE NEWS: 

● Google : ● News ● Facebook  ● Video ● Images ● Pinterest ● Instagram ● Amazon ● GoodReads  ● Images ● Pixabay: Alaska

SERVICE ARTICLES:

Influence on RE HowardExplore North Magazine
Red Light atmosphere: “I wrote of human nature, of the life of a mining camp, of the rough miners and the dance-hall girls. Vice seemed to me a more vital subject for poetry than virtue, more colourful, more dramatic, so I specialized in the Red Light atmosphere.”  - Robert W. Service

SERVICE PAGES: 

Wikisource● Poem Hunter  ● AllPoetry.com ● Poetry Foundation  ● FamilyFriendlyPoems ● FamousPoets&Poems  ● AmericanPoetsAcademy ● Poeticious  ● PoetryLoversPage● MyPoeticSide: Poems   ● Bio  ● Influences● Timeline  /  Timemap    ● Gallery

SERVICE BIO: 

Service-Longepe blog
WIKIPEDIA● RWS ● Early life ● Yukon period ● Later life ● Writing ● Recognition  ● Dawson City cabin● Publications  ● Poetry  Collections● Fiction  ● Non-fiction  ● Music● GoodReads ● Poets.org ● Scottish Tribute ● Poetry Foundation ● Internal.org ● Find-a-grave

AUTOBIOS

● THE TRAIL OF '98 ● PLOUGHMAN       OF THE MOON
Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe. - Robert W. Service

KINDLE BOOKS

● Search● Collections
● Collected Verse       of Robert Service
● Under the Spell       of the Yukon
● Dan McGrew, Sam McGee      and other Great Service

“Creative dreaming,” in Service's words:
I have never been popular … I was polite and pleasant, but leaned back socially. I became notorious as a solitary walker, going off by myself as soon as work was done, into the Great White Silence.
My lonely walks were my real life; the sheer joy of them thrilled me. I exulted in my love of nature, and rarely have I been happier. 
A spirit of wanderlust, comfortable both as a tramp on the road or a dandy in the heart of Paris.
The Robert Service Cabin is part of the Klondike National Historic Sites in Dawson City, Alaska.

SERVICE QUOTES

Wiki ■ GoodReads
He was not a poet's poet. Fancy-Dan dilettantes will dispute the description "great." He was a people's poet. To the people he was great. They understood him, and knew that any verse carrying the by-line of Robert W. Service would be a lilting thing, clear, clean and power-packed, beating out a story with a dramatic intensity that made the nerves tingle. And he was no poor, garret-type poet, either. His stuff made money hand over fist.  -- Robert W. Service, Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph obituary of Sept. 16, 1958

SERVICE SAMPLES

● QUITTER● MEN THAT DON'T FIT IN● I AM FREEDOM'S FOOL● THE SPELL OF THE YUKON● THE LAW OF THE YUKON● THE SHOOTING       OF DAN McGREW● THE CREMATION       OF SAM McGEE● THE CALL OF THE WILD● CARRY ON● JUST THINK!● THE HARPY● THE LONE TRAIL● SONG OF A SOLDIER BORN ● GRAIN OF SAND● THE WONDERER
The only society I like is rough and tough, and the tougher the better. That's where you get downto bedrock and meet human people. Robert W. Service,Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph obituary of Sept. 16, 1958
● HEART OF THE SOURDOUGH● WANDERLUST● INDIVIDUALIST● THE FREETHINKER● THE ORDINARY MAN● THE LAND BEYOND

COLLECTIONS

► GUTENBERG
► THE SPELL OF THE YUKON
● The Spell of the Yukon● The Law of the Yukon
► RHYMES OF          A ROLLING STONE
● The Land of Beyond● A Rolling Stone● While the Bannock Bakes● Little Moccasins● I'm Scared of it All● Good-Bye, Little Cabin
► RHYMES OF          A RED CROSS MAN
● The Song of the Pacifist
► BALLADS          OF A CHEECHAKO
● Ballad of Gum-Boot Ben● Ballad of Blasphemous Bill● The Telegraph Operator● L'Envoi
► SONGS OF A SOURDOUGH
● The Law of the Yukon
BALLADS OF A BOHEMIAN
● It Is Later Than You Think

SERVICE ANALYSIS

● Loneliness ● Rough, Tough, Tender ● McGee #1 ● Mc Grew ● Soughdough  ● ExploreNorth.com ● Upenn.edu 
An agnostic with a sense of the divine: though I may not believe in religion, I believe in churches …
 I respect the spirit of religion, that reverence for the finer things of life. Churches are a rallying point in the fight for a heaven on earth….
More and more I believed in my guardian angel, and the experience of a lifetime has strengthened that belief. I know it is absurd and irrational, but I have steered through so many troubledwaters to a serene haven that I cannot help fancying a guiding hand on the rudder. - Robert W. Service

DOWNLOADS

Project Gutenberg works  LibriVox ● Internet archive
A novel based on verse: THE SHOOTING OF DAN MCGREW, A NOVEL 

Verse, not poetry, is what I was after... something the man in the street would take notice of and the sweet old lady would paste in her album; something the schoolboy would spout and the fellow in the pub would quote. Yet I never wrote to please anyone but myself; it just happened. I belonged to the simple folks whom I liked to please. - Robert W. Service

OF HIS ILK...

●  ROBERT E. HOWARD ●  GK CHESTERON    (WHITE KNIGHT)●  BANJO PATERSON ●  RUDYARD KIPLING ●  EDGAR ALLAN POE    ● ROBERT        LEWIS STEVENSON 
I don't believe in pretty language and verbal felicities, but in getting as close down as I can to the primal facts of life, cutting down to the bedrock of things. . . . . 
My idea of verse writing is to write something the everyday workingman can read and approve, the man who, as a rule, fights shy of verse or rhyme. I prefer to write something that comes within the scope of his own experience and grips him with a sense of reality. - Robert W. Service

SERVICE PROSE 

@ Internet Archive● The roughneck:       a tale of Tahiti● The trail of '98:       a northland romance● The pretender:       a story of the Latin Quarter● The poisoned paradise:      a romance of Monte Carlo● Harper of Heaven 

   (FadedPage.com) 


Write verse, not poetry. The public wants verse. If you have a talent for poetry, then don’t by any means mother it, but try your hand at verse. -- Robert W. Service.

SERVICE WORDS

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