Poetry Assignment: The Cremation of Sam McGee
By Emma Taylor
Introduction
Throughout history, humans have explored the world to advance their economies and wealth. Explorers such as Christopher Columbus in the 15th century made many voyages to discover North and South America. The discovery of gold in Yukon in 1896 caused what was known as the gold rush; a stampede of people in search of gold. Gold is a very valuable mineral. This discovery of gold in the Yukon led to the establishment of Dawson City in 1896, and in 1898 the Yukon Territories. Tens of thousands of men and women rushed to the Klondike gold fields in search of wealth. One of the famous writers from this time is Robert Service. Service wrote the poem The Cremation of Sam McGee. …show more content…
I think Robert Service organised his poem in this way because it makes it much more clearer to read and it gives whoever is reading it a good understanding of what is going on. I think this way because if you have too many stanzas or too many lines per stanza, it makes it much less clear and much less organised. The poem’s layout is also very organised as well. At the beginning, it has the title and the name of the poet bolded and capitalized, so you know what the title is and who wrote it. Next, it has a few lines which briefly introduce the story to the reader in italics. I think that it was smart of Service to do this because it will give the reader context, and since he put it in italics, it makes it different than the rest of the poem. This keeps it organised and the reader will not be confused by it. These few lines in italics are also at the end of the poem, which makes the poem have a nice flow at the end, and keeps the poem …show more content…
This means that the first two lines of the stanza rhyme, and the last two lines of the stanza rhyme. There is internal rhyming, and also rhyming of the last words in each sentence. This makes the poem have a nice rhythm. I think that Service has chosen to do these things because it makes the poem organised and the poem flow when it is read out loud. If you do not do these things, the poem will not flow and will sound very unorganized when read out loud. The heptameter rhythm also gives the reader the impression of a story that is being told.
Language Patterns
The choice of words in this poem are informal and slang for example in stanza number 3 McGee says: 'Cap' said he 'I'll cash in this trip I guess'. The use of language can sometimes be crude such as 'before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee' and ‘'I stuffed in Sam McGee'. The language adds to the darkness, the morbidity and the mystery. Words like 'corpse' and 'stuffed' are used to create a contrast to the more elegant words of 'howling woes to the homeless snows' and 'stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe'. The poet has chosen certain words because they give a flowing effect. This makes it sound clearer when read out loud, but what actually is being read is very mysterious and is an interesting
By Emma Taylor
Introduction
Throughout history, humans have explored the world to advance their economies and wealth. Explorers such as Christopher Columbus in the 15th century made many voyages to discover North and South America. The discovery of gold in Yukon in 1896 caused what was known as the gold rush; a stampede of people in search of gold. Gold is a very valuable mineral. This discovery of gold in the Yukon led to the establishment of Dawson City in 1896, and in 1898 the Yukon Territories. Tens of thousands of men and women rushed to the Klondike gold fields in search of wealth. One of the famous writers from this time is Robert Service. Service wrote the poem The Cremation of Sam McGee. …show more content…
I think Robert Service organised his poem in this way because it makes it much more clearer to read and it gives whoever is reading it a good understanding of what is going on. I think this way because if you have too many stanzas or too many lines per stanza, it makes it much less clear and much less organised. The poem’s layout is also very organised as well. At the beginning, it has the title and the name of the poet bolded and capitalized, so you know what the title is and who wrote it. Next, it has a few lines which briefly introduce the story to the reader in italics. I think that it was smart of Service to do this because it will give the reader context, and since he put it in italics, it makes it different than the rest of the poem. This keeps it organised and the reader will not be confused by it. These few lines in italics are also at the end of the poem, which makes the poem have a nice flow at the end, and keeps the poem …show more content…
This means that the first two lines of the stanza rhyme, and the last two lines of the stanza rhyme. There is internal rhyming, and also rhyming of the last words in each sentence. This makes the poem have a nice rhythm. I think that Service has chosen to do these things because it makes the poem organised and the poem flow when it is read out loud. If you do not do these things, the poem will not flow and will sound very unorganized when read out loud. The heptameter rhythm also gives the reader the impression of a story that is being told.
Language Patterns
The choice of words in this poem are informal and slang for example in stanza number 3 McGee says: 'Cap' said he 'I'll cash in this trip I guess'. The use of language can sometimes be crude such as 'before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee' and ‘'I stuffed in Sam McGee'. The language adds to the darkness, the morbidity and the mystery. Words like 'corpse' and 'stuffed' are used to create a contrast to the more elegant words of 'howling woes to the homeless snows' and 'stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe'. The poet has chosen certain words because they give a flowing effect. This makes it sound clearer when read out loud, but what actually is being read is very mysterious and is an interesting