Robert Service lived a rich, adventurous life. Born in Preston, Lancashire, England, on January 16, 1874, he spent most of his youth in Glasgow, Scotland, where he attended high school and later worked at the Commercial Bank of Scotland. As a young man, Service read voraciously and began to dream of adventure and travel. At age twenty-one, he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and traveled west to British Columbia. Like his contemporary Jack London, Service spent some time tramping up and down the West Coast of the United States. He then took a position with the Canadian Bank of Commerce. In 1904 the bank transferred him to the Yukon, where he acquired a rich vein of materials for his ballads and poems.

In 1907 Service published his first collection of poems, which included his most famous poems, "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation...