U.S. Marines unfurl Old Glory at Petco Park in San Diego, CA |
Francis Scott Key |
Editor’s note: On Sept. 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key peered
through clearing smoke to see an enormous flag flying proudly after a 25-hour
British bombardment of Baltimore's Fort McHenry. Key was inspired to write a
poem, which was later set to music.
--
http://www.francisscottkey.org/
Guest Blog—By Issac Asimov (written in 1992)--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,
W hat 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.
Listen to Star Spangled Banner sung by
Margaret Wilson, daughter of Edith and Woodrow Wilson:
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