The Shooting of Dan McGrew and Other Poems

by Robert W. Service

The English-born poet lived in Canada most of his life, where he penned a spirited series of poems that recapture the rough-and-tumble life of the frontier's mining camps and saloons. Includes "The Spell of the Yukon," "The Heart of the Sourdough," "While the Bannock Bakes," and "The Squaw Man."

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Canada, Childrens, Picture Books, Art, Classics

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

This author is the the British-Canadian writer of Yukon poetry. For the British historian of modern Russia, see Robert Service.

Robert William Service was born into a Scottish family while they were living in Preston, England. He was schooled in Scotland, attending Hillhead High School in Glasgow. He moved to Canada at the age of 21 when he gave up his job working in a Glasgow bank, and traveled to Vancouver Island, British Columbia with his Buffalo Bill outfit and dreams of becoming a cowboy.

He drifted around western North America, taking and quitting a series of jobs. Hired by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, he worked in a number of its branches before being posted to the branch in Whitehorse (not Dawson) in the Yukon Territory in 1904, six years after the Klondike Gold Rush. Inspired by the vast beauty of the Yukon wilderness, Service began writing poetry about the things he saw.

Conversations with locals led him to write about things he hadn't seen, many of which hadn't actually happened, as well. He did not set foot in Dawson City until 1908, arriving in the Klondike ten years after the Gold Rush, but his renown as a writer was already established.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Service.

Reviews

[Laura JC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Service was the favourite poet/author of my late mother. I gave her this hardcover edition with its glorious paintings by Ted Harrison. Entertaining reading. Companion book to "The Cremation of Sam McGee."

[Daryl-Ann]

The Three Voices
My Madonna
The March of the Dead
My Friends
The Song of the Mouth-Organ
Athabaska Dick
The Quitter
The Man from Athabaska
Young Fellow My Lad
The Stretcher-Bearer

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Shooting of Dan McGrew" is a poem I read many years ago. It takes place in the Yukon during the gold rush. Three of the characters in a saloon have had past. They meet for a final time.
Poem also online at: poetrysoup.com

[ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

thanks mr T

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely but melancholy gentleman came into my taproom today and while we chatted he recited some poem stanzas I'd never heard before. He later returned with this tiny poetry compilation for me to read. I truly enjoyed them, reminding me so much of my favourite singer-songwriter, Nick Cave, and his Murder Ballads. These poems, tho slightly dark, are just like songs telling a tale of the wild west or northern tundra.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me think of Johnny Horton's 'North to Alaska'

[CD · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite poem books.

[Sean Sexton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:
"Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane--
Strong for the red rage of battle; sane, for I harry them sore;
Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;
Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat,
Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat.
-- From "The Law of the Yukon"

Robert Service was born in England, but lived in Canada for much of his life. His poems paint a colorful picture of life in the Yukon and in mining camps and small gritty frontier towns. This book is a collection of some of his poems published between 1907 and 1916 and include poems like:

The Heart of the Sourdough
The Law of the Yukon
The Shooting of Dan McGrew
The Cremation of Sam McGee
The Men That Don't Fit In
The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike
The Ballad of Hard-Luck Henry
Clancy of the Mounted Police
Barb-Wire Bill
The Squaw Man

These are great poems and ballads about tough guys out in the Yukon, mining for gold or just living out in the wilderness. Every poem is epic, whether it's about the rugged beauty of the rugged or about a guy who took out a contract to bury a man after he died, regardless of where he was.

[Kortney Rupprecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry: Picture Story Book Gold Rush, Betrayal, Jealousy, Dawson City

Service, Robert W. The Shooting of Dan McGrew Illus. by Harrison, Ted. Toronto: Kids Can Press Ltd., 1988. Unp. Elementary.

Set in Dawson City after the Gold Rush, a crazed rough-looking miner enters a saloon and falls for “the lady who’s known as Lou”, who happens to be “Dangerous Dan Mcgrew’s” lady friend. After rage builds the two men end in a western style shootout, with the only winner being greedy Lou herself. The third person point-of-view, intense lyrical text, and dramatic full-page artwork, add to the excitement and mystery of this memorable poem.

AK: Saloon, Yukon, Gold Rush, Shoot Out, Gold Miner, Trapper

Activity: Pair this classic poem with a unit on the Gold Rush. Assign roles to students and have them reenact it for other classes as a reader’s theater.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has anyone ever seen the television series Christy? Poor Ben Pentland is quite taken with Susan, only he gets all tongue-tied whenever he is around her. Miss Alice suggests he take the poetic approach in wooing her, only this is the poem Mr. Pentland chooses to recite. Let's just say the young lady didn't take a fancy to it.

I saw that I had this in an anthology of mine and decided to read it for myself. It reads very well. I would liken it to The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. In each instance there is a lady involved and there is a death. One should grasp so much from the title in this case especially.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Robert Service's poetry. My high school chemistry teacher used to get excited every year when it was cold enough to turn on the furnace at school, so he could recite The Cremation of Sam McGee to his classes. It was nice to read this collection, which included not only the better known Yukon Gold Rush-based stuff, but poems relating to Service's WWI service in the ambulance corps on the front lines. I do find it funny how Service is viewed as quintessentially Canadian (except to folks in the US, who assume he is quintessentially Alaskan) but he was born in Scotland and died in France. It was fun to read these again.

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have driven through Butte several times now, and the old mining stories seem to drift up above the town like old ghosts. I start wondering about their world once in a while, and sometimes I want to feel just a little of those old cold days. Robert Service takes you there with his easy rhymes and a specific sense of place. I love this book because it doesn't grieve for an old way of life, it breathes life into old stories that resonate when you look at the lifeless expanses of Montana in winter or the mined-out hill sides of Butte.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can tell from the inscription in this book that I received it as a birthday gift from my sister, Frances in February 1989! Still have it and still re-read it from time to time - most often on cold winter nights in Toronto when I am looking for colour!

I recall hearing this poem read on dark nights at camp around a campfire more than once - and love some of the lines and phrases - one that I recall is reference to the "hound of hell"!

Of course the famous partner poem to this one is The Cremation of Sam McGee.

[Raelene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love the rhythm and cadence of Service's poetry. And of course, the gripping story. My father used to recite bits and pieces of these poems; I learned to love Service in my father's voice and can't read anything without thinking of how it would sound with my father's inflection and cadence and enunciation.

[Marne - Reader By the Water · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gloriously dark and mysterious. My dad recited these poems to me since birth. They're part of my DNA at this point, but the artwork really knocks it out of the park. I loved this book and the Sam McGee one.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was by no means bad, I just don't understand the point of telling this story. The actual writing was great, and I felt like I was in that saloon with them, but yeah idk maybe this one just wasn't my cip of joe.

[Robertbbenson]

Memorized "The Shooting ..."

[Lydia Moses · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about the gold rush in Yukon, Canada. I did not know before reading this book that the gold rush also happened in Canada. I thought it was a California thing.

[Palm Springs Daze · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rhyming tale well told
in the Yukon in days of old.

[Nick Katenkamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a review for The Shooting of Dan McGrew only. The narrative poem is entertaining, fun, and memorable. Hunt Emmerson's illustrations make it all the better.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Depressing for a kids book

[Forked Radish · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give it a number two.