Poetry of Key
Francis Scott Key
born 1779, died 1843
|
|
| |
The Star-Spangled Banner
O! Say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, 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;
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, half-conceals, half-discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam;
Its full glory reflected now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-sprangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is the band who so vauntingly swore,
Mid the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country they 'd leave us no more?
Their blood hath wash'd out their foul footsteps' 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.
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation;
Bless'd 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 in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
>> Francis Scott Key
[editors note]
> since 1931 national hymn of the USA
> footnote in "The Rose, Thistle and Shamrock", Ferdinand Freiligrath
(editor), 1853, page 132: ""This song is supposed to have been written
by a prisoner on board the British fleet, on the morning after the unsuccessful
bombardment of Fort Mc Henry." - Griswold"
> footnote in "The Rose, Thistle and Shamrock", Ferdinand Freiligrath
(editor), 1853, page 133: ""These lyrics (The Star-spangled Banner and
Hail, Columbia) have not much poetic merit, but they are as well known throughout
the United States as the Rhine Song is in Germany, or the Marseilles Hymn in France."
- Griswold" |
|
