The American National
Anthem
On Sept. 13, 1814, detained on
board a British ship during the shelling of Fort McHenry, Francis Scott
Key was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort
in the morning that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First
published under the title “Defense of Fort McHenry,” the poem soon
attained wide popularity. The Star-Spangled Banner was officially made
the national anthem by Congress in 1931.
The Star Spangled
Banner
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
through the night that our flag was still there.
'Chorus'
Oh, 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,
half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the
morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream
'Chorus'
Tis the star-spangled
banner! Oh 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 of their foul
footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave
'Chorus'
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 home and the war's desolation!
Bles't with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the
Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must,
when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our
trust."
'Chorus'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph
shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.