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The Star-Spangled Banner Francis Scott Key 1779-1843 |
During the War of 1812 (1812-1815) Key witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor. The sight of the American flag still flying over the fort at daybreak inspired him to write the poem "The Defense of Fort McHenry," which he set to the tune of an English drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven". "The Star-Spangled Banner" became the official United States national anthem in 1931.
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Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust".
And the Star-Spangled Banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
All Four Stanzas
By Isaac Asimov
I have a weakness--I am crazy, absolutely nuts,
about our national anthem.
The words are difficult and the tune is almost
impossible, but frequently when I'm taking a shower I sing it with as much power
and emotion as I can. It shakes me up every time.
I was once asked to speak at a luncheon. Taking
my life in my hands, I announced I was going to sing our national anthem--all
four stanzas.
This was greeted with loud groans. One man
closed the door to the kitchen, where the noise of dishes and cutlery was loud
and distracting. "Thanks, Herb," I said.
"That's all right," he said. "It
was at the request of the kitchen staff."
I explained the background of the anthem and
then sang all four stanzas.
Let me tell you, those people had never heard
it before--or had never really listened. I got a standing ovation. But it was
not me; it was the anthem.
More recently, while conducting a seminar, I
told my students the story of the anthem and sang all four stanzas. Again there
was a wild ovation and prolonged applause. And again, it was the anthem and not me.
So now let me tell you how it came to be written.
In 1812, the United States went to war with
Great Britain, primarily over freedom of the seas. We were in the right. For two
years, we held off the British, even though we were still a rather weak country.
Great Britain was in a life and death struggle with Napoleon. In fact, just as
the United States declared war, Napoleon marched off to invade Russia. If he
won, as everyone expected, he would control Europe, and Great Britain would be
isolated. It was no time for her to be involved in an American war.
At first, our seamen proved better than the
British. After we won a battle on Lake Erie in 1813, the American commander,
Oliver Hazard Perry, sent the message "We have met the enemy and they are
ours." However, the weight of the British navy beat down our ships
eventually. New England, hard-hit by a tightening blockade, threatened
secession.
Meanwhile, Napoleon was beaten in Russia and in
1814 was forced to abdicate. Great Britain now turned its attention to the
United States, launching a three-pronged attack. The northern prong was to come
down Lake Champlain toward New York and seize parts of New England. The southern
prong was to go up the Mississippi, take New Orleans and paralyze the west. The
central prong was to head for the mid-Atlantic states and then attack Baltimore,
the greatest port south of New York. If Baltimore was taken, the nation, which
still hugged the Atlantic coast, could be split in two. The fate of the
United States, then, rested to a large extent on the success or failure of the
central prong.
The British reached the American coast, and on
August 24, 1814, took Washington, D.C. Then they moved up the Chesapeake Bay
toward Baltimore. On September 12, they arrived and found 1000 men in Fort
McHenry, whose guns controlled the harbor. If the British wished to take
Baltimore, they would have to take the fort.
On one of the British ships was an aged
physician, William Beanes, who had been arrested in Maryland and brought along
as a prisoner. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and friend of the physician, had come
to the ship to negotiate his release. The British captain was willing, but the
two Americans would have to wait. It was now the night of September 13, and the
bombardment of Fort McHenry was about to start.
As twilight deepened, Key and Beanes saw the
American flag flying over Fort McHenry. Through the night, they heard bombs
bursting and saw the red glare of rockets. They knew the fort was resisting and
the American flag was still flying. But toward morning the bombardment ceased,
and a dread silence fell. Either Fort McHenry had surrendered and the British
flag flew above it, or the bombardment had failed and the American flag still
flew.
As dawn began to brighten the eastern sky, Key
and Beanes stared out at the fort, trying to see which flag flew over it. He and
the physician must have asked each other over and over, "Can you see the
flag?"
After it was all finished, Key wrote a four
stanza poem telling the events of the night. Called "The Defence of Fort
M'Henry," it was published in newspapers and swept the nation. Someone
noted that the words fit an old English tune called "To Anacreon in
Heaven" --a difficult melody with an uncomfortably large vocal range. For
obvious reasons, Key's work became known as "The Star Spangled
Banner," and in 1931 Congress declared it the official anthem of the United
States.
Now that you know the story, here are the
words. Presumably, the old doctor is speaking. This is what he asks Key
Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
"Ramparts," in case you don't know, are the protective walls or other elevations that surround a fort. The first stanza asks a question. The second gives an answer
On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
"The towering steep" is again, the
ramparts. The bombardment has failed, and the British can do nothing more but
sail away, their mission a failure.
In the third stanza, I feel Key allows himself
to gloat over the American triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key
probably was in no mood to act otherwise.
During World War II, when the British were our
staunchest allies, this third stanza was not sung. However, I know it, so here
it is
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more slowly than the other three and with even deeper feeling.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n - rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto--"In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I hope you will look at the national anthem
with new eyes. Listen to it, the next time you have a chance, with new ears.
And don't let them ever take it away.
--Isaac Asimov, March 1991
