Collected Poems of Robert Service (Hardcover)

by Robert W. Service (Author) "I WANTED the gold, and I sought it;..." (more)
Key Phrases: black fox skin, pipe alight, wolfish eyes, Hank the Finn, Lone Trail, Marie Toro (more...)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Not Avail
• ISBN-10: 0396013562
• ISBN-13: 978-0396013563
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,328,611 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking!, January 5, 2001

By	Michael - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collected Poems of Robert Service (Hardcover)

Very few poets have captured the grandeur and beauty of the spirt of adventure like Robert Service.

In a day and age where refreshing verse and lyrics are hard to come by, a simple look into these pages reveals one of the most monumental works in modern poetry. Nothing quite excites the heart and stirs the soul like the works from Robert Service.

You will find your heart fluttering, your eyes moist and your mind wandering aimless in far away places as Service takes you there on a magic carpet ride of grandeur and adventure.

Inside you'll find a personal favorite, Service's Call of the Wild. If this doesn't move you, I'm not sure that anything will.

Service's poems could very well have been labeled chicken soup for the soul, well before those series of books under the same title.

Nothing short of magical.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book of poetry by one of the world's finest poets, September 1, 2003

By	Joseph H Pierre "Joe Pierre" (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Collected Poems of Robert Service (Hardcover)

They say that Robert Service was not a 'poet's poet'. The effete literati sneered at his work, and accused him of writing doggerel. But, the people have always loved his work. He was truly a 'people's poet.'

His first volume of poetry, The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses, sold out while it was still on the presses. Two of his ballads, The Shooting of Dan McGrew and The Cremation of Sam McGee, are among the most memorized poems in history.

The Shooting of Dan McGrew alone made him a half-million dollars, which was a sizeable fortune in his time. He never had to do manual labor for his bread again, after its publication.

This volume of his work contains his best-known poems (those contained in both The Spell of the Yukon and his second, longer collection, Ballads of a Cheechako).

This is a book that you will not only delight in reading before the fire on a winter's evening or when that confining office job is getting you down, but it will also provide an endless source of conversation and amusement for your friends, many of whom will no doubt be able to recite large portions of some of his poems.

For Robert Service is, without a doubt, one of the best-loved of the world's poets. His poetry stands alongside that of Kipling, Coleridge and Poe in the public's affection.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry for everyman!, June 12, 2002

By	"[e-mail]" (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collected Poems of Robert Service (Hardcover)

I first came across Robert Service about third or fourth grade and the book was confiscated first by my teacher and then by my parents as "unsuitable". To me RS is the most suitable poet who ever put pen to paper - with no apology to Yeats or others.

All human life is to be found between these covers with very few duds. If ever you were stuck for a party piece, try "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" or "The Cremation of Sam McGee", either will generate a terrific response and with appropriate drama, a standing ovation.

Most of all, there are poems here which capture an era long gone and soon to be forgotten.

Robert Service will justifiably survive the majority of 20th century poets