This anthology combines five earlier collections of Verse by Robert Service, a British-Canadian poet affectionately termed "the Bard of the Yukon" for his poetic depictions of life in rural Northwest Canada.
Sending a book of his verses south for publication, it was there th.
Although the many anecdotes Robert Service used to inspire his Verse were unlikely to have occurred, they were all good stories representative of Yukon culture.
He would also venture out into the beautiful wilds of Yukon, and using his own creative flair would author many unique verses.
After meeting with approval here, Service pursued the idea further - he spoke with locals and heard their stories.
Hearing of demand for locally relevant poems, Service at first wrote Verse for the local saloon, whose patrons yearned for original entertainment each evening.
Yet it was only after his bank sent him to the distant north, to the city of Whitehorse in the Yukon, that poetry became a serious endeavor.
Throughout his undistinguished youth, Service continued to author verses and even made small sums by selling these to magazines such as The Colonist.
Eventually, the penniless Service would be hired by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, using his experience from Scotland to land the work.
Yet life in North America proved difficult: drifting up and down the west coast, the young man was unable to hold down work for long and often subsisted on family members who had emigrated to Canada.
Young and idealistic, the age of twenty-one Service moved to the Pacific coast with dreams of working on a ranch as a cowboy.
In these formative years, he would often write his own poetry, but never took it seriously as a career - instead, he apprenticed at a bank.
He spent three years with his aunts in Ayrshire, Scotland before finally settling in Glasgow with his parents.
Beginning life in Lancashire, England, as a boy Robert Service demonstrated a liking for Verse and poems, particularly the romantic poetry native to England.
This anthology combines five earlier collections of Verse by Robert Service, a British-Canadian poet affectionately termed "the Bard of the Yukon" for his poetic depictions of life in rural Northwest Canada
