Robert Service’s ‘Death in the Arctic’ tells a bleak, dark story in such an evocative way that even after the poem finishes, the reader can’t help but wonder for more.
The poem centers around the speaker's contemplation of suicide, which is explicitly stated in the opening lines. The speaker waits for the clock to strike eight when they plan to shoot themselves. The theme of suicide is further explored through the speaker's descriptions of their life struggles and the struggles of their companions in the harsh Arctic environment.
I took the clock down from the shelf;
"At eight," said I, "I shoot myself."
It lacked a minute of the hour,
And as I waited all a-cower,