Themes in the Cremation of Sam Mcgee

The Cremation of surface-to-air missile McGee by Robert expediency is an incredible example of a narrative ballad. It tells its storey through internal and external rhyming couplets nowadays Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.? Why he left his pedestal in the South to roam round the Pole, matinee idol only knows. (Service) with a cadence which holds true through out the whole rime (Team, Shmoop Editorial). Services application of literary devices like alliteration enhances the stop of the poem roam round, cursed cold, foul or fair, half hid, and brawn and brains (Service).The cold of the Arctic is a major theme and Service uses an assortment of other(a) literary devices to convey his message (Team, Shmoop Editorial). He localises the tone with the oxymoron at the end of the graduation stanza midnight sun (Service) where midnight speaks to cold and sun to warmth. Then again in the first quatrain he uses a metaphor to tell of how ones blood runs c old (Service) in the Arctic. Service employs juxtaposition in the second quatrain when he puts Sams home in warm Tennessee where the cotton blooms and blows (Service) beside his present residence of the Arctic where He is was always cold (Service).He utilizes a simile in such a expression that the reader can feel the relentless, penetrating cold Talk of your cold through the parkas fold it stabbed like a driven nail (Service). His use of avatar heavens scowled (Service) and I wrestled with grisly fear (Service) paints an image of cold so effectively that we can see the dark sky and feel the shiver of fear. another(prenominal) theme that comes alive through the use of literary devices is the peculiar (Team, Shmoop Editorial).Services first quatrain is peppered with metaphors The Arctic trails have their secret tales and The Northern Lights have seen queer sights (Service) which set the mood for the strange. Later in the seventh quatrain Service uses a metaphor to emphasis the cold and the darkness of the Arctic he finds himself in with Sams corpse There wasnt a breath in that land of death. The paradox of Sam wishing that hed sooner live in hell is an peerless statement for any human.The imagery Service creates with his word choice allows you to see the narrator sing to the hateful liaison, and it hearkened with a grin (Service), burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and stuff in Sam McGee (Service) or there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar (Service). Whether it is literal or metonymic is open to question. One could see a person singing to a corpse barely to have the corpse grin back is weird.Now to stuff a corpse into a furnace of glowing coals and then to have the corpse came back to life and enjoy the fiery abode is not something anyone would actually do or witness and thus it takes the reader to a world of peculiar. A final theme to be introduced is that of friendship (Team, Shmoop Editorial). An interesting alliance is between the humans and the dogs. The dogs be symbiotic with the men and their actions are relayed to us using internal rhyming and a metaphor the huskies howled out their woes to the homeless snows O God ow I loathed the thing (Service) or And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low (Service). Sam and the narrators friendship is displayed to us by Services love of internal rhyming, A pals last need is a thing to heed or The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in. He also uses a metaphor to communicate the commitment between them even in death Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code (Service). Robert Service is truly a genius with the written word.His poem The Cremation of Sam McGee creates a timeless tale for past, present and future generations. The spell it casts on its listeners is produced through the placement of the words Service chooses. The Cremation of Sam McGee deserves to be the best poem in the world. Works Cited Literary Devices. Literary Devices. N. p. , 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. Service, Robert. RobertWService. Com. Robert W Service. com. Tacoma Technologies, 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. Team, Shmoop Editorial. The Cremation of Sam McGee. Shmoop. com. Shmoop University Inc. , 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.