Musings on a broken-spined hardcover
My copy is nearing 25 yrs old and shows the wear and tear of living in backpacks, suitcases, briefcases and brown paper bags. This compendium of 6 different books of Service's work will take you from his Gold Rush Days of the Yukon, to his escape to the Bohemian Quarter in Paris to become a 'Serious Poet', and to his volunteering to become an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in the First World War. His ballads are remarkable in how they take you deeply into the the person's life for that brief time as you read. There is the lighthearted comedy he is known for with "The Cremation of Sam McGee", as well as the first person accounts of the unimaginable horrors and uplifting glories of battle in the trenches. Service wrote for the everyday working man, in everything he is utterly approachable and unpretentious. I will confess, as does he, this is "lowbrow stuff", but it is mighty satisfying.