The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States, a song deeply intertwined with American history and patriotism. Penned by Francis Scott Key, an amateur poet, the lyrics were born from a powerful experience during the War of 1812. Witnessing the American flag still flying above Fort McHenry after a night of intense British bombardment, Key was moved to capture his emotions in verse.
This pivotal moment led to the creation of what would become a symbol of American resilience. Initially scribbled on the back of a letter, Key’s poem was later completed and distributed as a broadside in Baltimore. Quickly gaining popularity, it was soon published in newspapers across the East Coast by mid-October, resonating with a nation forging its identity.
The Star-Spangled Banner Lyrics
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,
In full glory reflected now shines in 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 wash’d 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.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when 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.
The Star-Spangled Banner song remains a powerful symbol of American patriotism and endures as a testament to the nation’s ability to persevere through conflict, embodying the spirit of freedom and bravery.
