1. Service grew up in England and Scotland. Check out from your library The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, edited by Francis James Child.

Which ones would you guess Service may have read while growing up? Do you see any similarities between these ballads and his own?

2. On a map of the Yukon, locate Whitehorse, Dawson City, and the Klondike River. What significance did these places have in the settlement of the Yukon? (Consult an encyclopedia for information.)

3. Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was a talented English poet who died at the age of twenty-five in World War I. Compare some of his war poems with Service's war poems.

4. Attempt to rewrite "The Cremation of Sam McGee" or "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" as a short story. What might be gained through such a revision?

What would be lost?

5. Jack London was writing...