What is the function of rhyme in the poem The Cremation of Sam McGee

Rhyme and rhythm in the poem of Robert W Service "The cremation of Sam McGee was to express the story of this prospector from Plumtree Tennessee who had never been warm since he left there to come to the Yukon goldrush of 1898. Rhyme and rhythm were used to create an amusing story of how the only time Sam McGee was warm was when he was cremated in an old sternwheeler "on the marge of Lake Laberge" and he said to close the door to keep the warmth in and the freezing cold out. The poem mostly rhymes with every other line, and the rhythm is such that it makes a lively tale of life in the Klondike gold rush of the Yukon.