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a bunch more Robert W Service books
Apr. 20th, 2020 04:52 pmApparently after finishing The Best of Robert Service I then decided to just read ALL the other Service on my shelf in just a couple days. Okay then.
Songs of a Sourdough, by Robert W Service
A little too much leaning on just a couple themes, which gets repetitive in places, but also contains a couple of my favourite poems.
Ballads of a Cheechako, by Robert W Service
As a collection, reasonably formed, though of course I still don't like all the poems in it. My first introduction to a rather long narrative poem about a guy who thinks he's found the source of the northern lights, and it's delightful.
Rhymes of a Rolling Stone, by Robert W Service
A somewhat lower proportion of poems I actually like in this one. Oh well.
Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, by Robert W Service
These are poems written about WWI, in which Service was a stretcher-bearer and ambulance-driver. And....the vast majority of the poems are uncomfortably pro-war, to me. Sigh.
Ballads of a Bohemian, by Robert W Service
This is a book Service wrote after he became Very Rich from his earlier books and moved to Paris, and the whole book is from the pov of a....a version of him who's a very poor Parisian bohemian writing poetry and attempting to sell it to get by. He includes little first-person narrative interludes between the poems, from this persona, about his bohemian-writer life. The persona kinda rubs me the wrong way, and a lot of the poetry's not to my taste either.
Bar-Room Ballads, by Robert W Service
Nothing much to say about this one. I think reading this many books of Service's poetry in quick succession was getting to me.
EDIT: Oh I suppose I could link to the single poem I actually refer to specifically, it is out of copyright and all. Here you go: Ballad of the Northern Lights.
Songs of a Sourdough, by Robert W Service
A little too much leaning on just a couple themes, which gets repetitive in places, but also contains a couple of my favourite poems.
Ballads of a Cheechako, by Robert W Service
As a collection, reasonably formed, though of course I still don't like all the poems in it. My first introduction to a rather long narrative poem about a guy who thinks he's found the source of the northern lights, and it's delightful.
Rhymes of a Rolling Stone, by Robert W Service
A somewhat lower proportion of poems I actually like in this one. Oh well.
Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, by Robert W Service
These are poems written about WWI, in which Service was a stretcher-bearer and ambulance-driver. And....the vast majority of the poems are uncomfortably pro-war, to me. Sigh.
Ballads of a Bohemian, by Robert W Service
This is a book Service wrote after he became Very Rich from his earlier books and moved to Paris, and the whole book is from the pov of a....a version of him who's a very poor Parisian bohemian writing poetry and attempting to sell it to get by. He includes little first-person narrative interludes between the poems, from this persona, about his bohemian-writer life. The persona kinda rubs me the wrong way, and a lot of the poetry's not to my taste either.
Bar-Room Ballads, by Robert W Service
Nothing much to say about this one. I think reading this many books of Service's poetry in quick succession was getting to me.
EDIT: Oh I suppose I could link to the single poem I actually refer to specifically, it is out of copyright and all. Here you go: Ballad of the Northern Lights.
