Some one sent this to me,
this week... if is fitting for
today.
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 1,000 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 Defense of Fort McHenry,"
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 I 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 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 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.
Pay attention to the words. And
don't let them ever take it away ...
not even one word of it.
AND IT'S SUNG IN ENGLISH!!!
