The Cremation of Sam McGee Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay

In the way, way north, in the summer time, the sun shines almost all day, even at midnight. Because of that, some call it (kind of obviously) the land of the midnight sun. This only gets one ment...

If the Yukon represents the cold, dark world of death and pain (sorry, too grim?) then Tennessee stands in for comfort, home, warmth, and the easy life. The only problem is that there isn't any go...

The cold in this poem is a physical presence, almost like a wild animal or something. It chews away at these poor guys until there’s almost nothing left. It’s pretty clear that the cold robs...

We’re not exactly sure how to feel about the sled dogs in this poem. Usually dogs are warm and funny and friendly – you know, "man’s best friend" and all that. In most of the places they ge...

The stars don’t come up a lot, but we think the couple of mentions add a lot to the poem. They give us a little bit of perspective, and help us see some of the beauty of the North, as well as th...

We spend a little bit of time with Sam McGee while he’s alive, but even more with his frozen corpse. The grinning, frozen body is a creepy, awful companion for the speaker, but he can’t get ri...