Robert Service: The Voice of the North

Alaska has a way of getting into your bones. The landscapes are vast, the winters are long, and the people who come here tend to be the restless kind—the ones looking for something more. That’s exactly the spirit Robert Service captured in his poetry.

He didn’t just write about the Gold Rush. He wrote about men who never quite fit in, about women who had to carve out their own place in a rough world, about the joy and misery of life in the North. His words are still alive today because they still ring true—whether you’re walking the streets of Skagway, watching the Yukon River slip past, or sitting by a campfire under an endless sky.

Buckwheat Donahue knew this better than anyone.

In this first recording, Buckwheat introduces us to Robert Service—not just the poet, but the man behind the words.

Buckwheat Donahue on Robert Service

More Than Just a Gold Rush Poet

"When I first came north—to Alaska and the Yukon Territory—my appreciation for Robert Service just kept growing. I realized he wasn’t just some guy who wrote humorous anecdotal tales like The Cremation of Sam McGee or The Shooting of Dan McGrew.

We think of Service as a Gold Rush poet, but he was so much more. He had range. He wrote pieces that could reach anyone—whether you had a Yale degree or a third-grade education. His words connected to people on every level."

Service and the Hard Times That Shaped Him

"You have to remember, Robert Service started writing after the Great Panic of 1893. It was a tough time—people were struggling, barely scraping by. And if you look at almost any of his poems, you’ll see it: a line or two of hope tucked into the struggle.

That was what made him stand out. He understood what people were feeling and found a way to lighten the mood, to give them something to hold onto. Between the Panic of ‘93 and the outbreak of World War I, Service’s words filled a gap—a kind of spiritual medicine for hard times."

Understanding People Who Walk Their Own Path

"Take The Men Who Don’t Fit In—it sums up a lot of people who come north. These aren’t the guys who follow a straight path. They work hard, they push forward, but they just can’t seem to find a niche. They’re restless.

Service got that. He understood what drove people to places like this. He understood what it meant to have the North in your blood."

A Poet Who Saw Beyond the Stereotypes

"And it wasn’t just about men roughing it out in the wild. Look at Maternity—a poem written through the eyes of a woman in the Red Light District. Women read it back then and thought, this guy understands us.

Somehow, Robert Service just got people—the gamblers, the dreamers, the ones scraping by, the ones barely holding on. He wasn’t just writing about the Gold Rush; he was writing about what it meant to survive."

The Legacy of Robert Service

"In his lifetime, Service had over 16 books of poetry published. He wrote four novels, all of which were turned into movies—some of them over 25 times. That’s how popular he was.

More importantly, he inspired people. He made poetry feel attainable. People would read his work and think, maybe I can write like that, too. He was a storyteller, a voice for the times, and in places like Alaska and the Yukon, his words still echo today.

Even now, in the Yukon Territory, they call him The Poet Laureate of the North. Nobody has ever replaced him. And I don’t think anyone ever will."

Why His Poetry Still Matters

"When you come to Alaska—or the Yukon—and you spend time outside, you’ll understand. Read a Robert Service poem out loud, and it’ll feel different.

It’ll feel real.

It’ll feel like this place."