The Cremation of Sam McGee Mortality Quotes

Death comes up fast in this poem. We heard about it in the opening lines, and now we’re being reminded that we’re here to listen to a story about a cremation. It’s a pretty strange topic for a poem, especially one that ends up being so funny. We think the focus on death is what gives this poem a lot of its weird, surprising power.

Here’s where Sam comes to terms with the fact that he’s dying, and says it out loud. Check out the way he says it, though. There’s no drama. It’s kind of slangy and casual: "I’ll cash in." It adds a little tough-guy flavor to the poem, and it makes him sound like a man who’s spent some time around death and gotten used to it.

This is a pretty big moment in the poem – the moment when Sam goes from being a person to being a corpse. From now on, he’s literally dead weight, a burden on the speaker. In the normal world, this would be the end of things. Once you’re dead, that’s usually it for you. In this poem, though, nothing goes quite according to plan, in life or death.

This is a really weird, grisly moment, isn’t it? We don’t know about you, but we sort of love the black humor here. Imagine this guy riding along on a sled, singing to his dead buddy, who just grins along the whole time. This poem looks at death in a bunch of different ways. It shows how it’s a sad and moving experience, sure, but also something you kind of have to laugh at, if only to maintain your sanity.

Here’s the twist at the end of the poem. Death turns out to not be a one-way trip. In the final moments, Sam is actually resurrected by the fire. It’s silly and funny, for sure, but a victory over death is a really old and serious theme too. It’s the driving force behind the story of the Phoenix (which rises from the flames like Sam) and pretty much the whole Christian religion. We’re not trying to spoil the joke here, but we’re pretty sure Service is hinting at bigger ideas.