How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Line)
Quote #1
Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail. (line 14)
It’s cold in the Arctic, and when you’re outside it hurts. A lot. This is such a great image of how these guys must have suffered during those freezing winters. It’s not just a little nippy, it’s more like having a nail pounded into your body. This sounds a lot more like torture than weather, and it reminds us what a big part suffering plays in this poem.
Quote #2
And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee; (lines 26-27)
We watch Sam McGee die here, and it definitely isn’t pretty. Our speaker describes an agonizing death, full of crazy ranting and a slow, freezing wasting away. It’s not just a question of Sam dying, it’s how he dies, the horrible way that the cold and the fear eat away at him. In some ways, this is kind of a funny, silly poem, but it definitely has a dark side, too.
Quote #3
In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load (line 35)
Carrying Sam’s body around is pure suffering, too. There’s something about that body that really torments the speaker, and that makes an already hard situation even worse. Notice how he says his "lips were dumb." That’s dumb as in silent, not stupid, and it shows us that he won’t allow himself to admit how much he’s suffering. Maybe, holding it inside is a way of coping with the pain.
Quote #4
And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low; (lines 37-38)
As things go on, the suffering just gets worse. The body drags on the speaker more and more, and he gets hungrier all the time. Heck, even the dogs are miserable. There’s definitely nothing fun about this expedition. You get the feeling that the misery doesn’t come all at once, either – it just kind of shaves away at you day after day. The poem recreates this feeling by stretching out this part of the trip, and making us suffer along with him a little bit.
Quote #5
I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear; (line 53)
In some ways, the actual cremation hurts worse than anything. Our speaker was hungry, cold, and a little crazy before, but now he’s almost taken over by his terror. We think this line does a really good job of bringing that out. The phrase "grisly fear" really makes us feel how ugly, scary, and painful this moment is.