Carry On by Robert Service

Presented by Nor Alia Farhana Bt Mohd Nawi.

About the poet

Robert William Service, the renowned poet of the Yukon, was born in Lancashire, England, on January 16, 1874. The son of a bank cashier, Service was the eldest of four siblings. At the age of five, Service went to Scotland to live with his grandfather and three young aunts, who showered him with attention. A year later, on his sixth birthday, he wrote his first poem. He continued to write and in 1900 his first poems on the Boer War appeared in the Victoria Daily Colonist. By 1903 he was back in the banking life and living once again in British Columbia. In 1904 he was sent to Whitehorse on Yukon which was the influence for many of his gold rush ballads. Shortly after, Service was asked to write a poem for the Whitehorse Star newspaper from which was spawned The Shooting of Dan McGrew.

This narrative poem did much to set the tone in the eyes of the public of the Yukon and the gold rush towns where rugged prospectors did battle in saloon bars for the love of a woman. It has been read over the years by the likes of President Ronald Raegan, even mentioned on film by actress Marlene Dietrich and is one of the enduring poems of the Wild West era.

After he had collected enough poems, Service put them together as a book and sent them to his father along with a cheque to get copies printed. His intention was to give them out to friends but an enterprising printer and publisher got hold of them and the book soon became a great success. His popularity seemed to snowball from then on and the book, entitled The Song of Sourdough earned him the princely sum of $100,000 in royalties.

In 1908 he released another set of Yukon ballads which were just as successful and shortly after decided to devote himself full time to writing. He used his new found wealth to travel and eventually ended up in Paris where he pretended to be a painter before World War One broke out. He was in his forties at the time and tried to enlist but was refused on the grounds of varicose veins.

Undeterred, he worked as a stretcher bearer and ambulance driver.

In 1916, suffering from bad health and convalescing in hospital, he wrote a series of war poems that were collected in the book Rhymes of a Red Cross Man. Following the end of the war he remained in Paris for a while, reputedly one of the richest writers in the world at that time. Despite that he used to dress as an ordinary worker and mingle with the people, observing and writing. It led to his next work Ballads of a Bohemian published in 1921.

After a period of writing thriller novels, Service returned to America and settled in California during the outbreak of World War Two and even played in some films with stars such as John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich. His later years were prolific, with 6 poetry books produced between 1949 and 1955.

His writing was always considered as populist by the elite who passed judgement on such things and he was often nicknamed the Canadian Kipling. But Service didn’t call his work poetry either, content to cast it as verse that told a story pleasing to the ear as well as the eye.

He died in 1958 and The Ballad of Dan McGrew was read at his funeral along with his other most memorable work The Cremation of Sam McGee.

The poem

It’s easy to fight when everything’s right, And you’re mad with thrill and the glory; It’s easy to cheer when victory’s near, And wallow in fields that are gory. It’s a different song when everything’s wrong, When you’re feeling infernally mortal; When it’s ten against one, and hope there is none, Buck up, little soldier, and chortle: Carry on! Carry on! There isn’t much punch in your blow. You are glaring and staring and hitting out blind; You are muddy and bloody, but never you mind. Carry on! Carry on! You haven’t the ghost of a show. It’s looking like death, but while you’ve a breath, Carry on, my son! Carry on! And so in the strife of the battle of life It’s easy to fight when you’re winning; It’s easy to slave, and starve and be brave, When the dawn of success is beginning. But the man who can meet despair and defeat With a cheer, there’s the man of God’s choosing; The man who can fight to Heaven’s own height Is the man who can fight when he’s losing. Carry on! Carry on! Thing never were looming so black. But show that you haven’t a cowardly streak, And though you’re unlucky you never are weak. Carry on! Carry on! Brace up for another attack. It’s looking like hell, but – you never tell. Carry on, old man! Carry on! There are some who drift out in the desert of doubt And some who in brutishness wallow; There are others, I know, who in piety go Because of a Heaven to follow. But to labor with zest, and to give of your best, For the sweetness and joy of the giving; To help folks along with a hand and a song; Why, there’s the real sunshine of living. Carry on! Carry on! Fight the good fight and true; Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer; There’s big work to do, and that’s why you are here. Carry on! Carry on! Let the world be the better for you; And at last when you die, let this be your cry! Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

Theme

-Don't give up/persevere

-Uplifting spirits

Lessons

-This poem tells us just like the heroes, soldiers, we need to be strong and keep moving forward despite the challenges that we have to face even that means we need to sacrifice all we have to protect ourselves and others.

-As a human being who will constantly trying to explore new things in life, we must not give up because hard work and strong will always makes it worth it.

-Be mindful always that it's not what we deserve, but it's what we believe.

-No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible. Believing you can become successful is the most important step in actually achieving it.