Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

All Four Stanzas (of the Star Spangled Banner, in detail)
The Pure Water Gazette ^ | March 1991 | Isaac Asimov

Posted on 09/29/2003 10:22:41 AM PDT by mhking

All Four Stanzas

By Isaac Asimov

Introductory Note.  Unless you're already well acquainted with our "national anthem," this interesting piece by the late Isaac Asimov will be an eye-opener.  It was for me.  It's especially appropriate at a time when there is much talk of tossing out this difficult-to-sing and difficult-to-comprehend old song in favor of something that better suits Ray Charles' voice.  You'll understand the song much better after you read Mr. Asimov's explanation.--Hardly Waite, Gazette Senior Editor.

 

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, tyring 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.

--Isaac Asimov,  March 1991


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government
KEYWORDS: nationalanthem
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last
I stumbled across this, and found it refreshingly appropriate for the times in which we find ourselves today.
1 posted on 09/29/2003 10:22:41 AM PDT by mhking
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: mhking
Excellent, thanks.
2 posted on 09/29/2003 10:28:32 AM PDT by Bikers4Bush
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Cool!
3 posted on 09/29/2003 10:30:48 AM PDT by isthisnickcool (Guns!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Bump.
4 posted on 09/29/2003 10:34:49 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
bttt
5 posted on 09/29/2003 10:36:35 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Great post!
6 posted on 09/29/2003 10:37:58 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Great post. I strongly recommend visiting Fort McHenry if you're in the Baltimore area. It's a national park that doesn't get its due.

It's actually quite stirring. You watch a film recreating the events of the War of 1812. As the film ends, the Navy Choir (or the Middies, or someone) is singing the anthem as the curtains are drawn from giant windows to reveal the fort with the flag flying proudly.

The replica that they fly is quite hugh. You can also run around the fort, and marvel at how tiny everyone must have been back then.

7 posted on 09/29/2003 10:39:54 AM PDT by Mr. Bird
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: msdrby; JenB
SciFi ping
8 posted on 09/29/2003 10:41:23 AM PDT by Prof Engineer (HHD - Hoppe's #9 is my cologne of choice ;-))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Bump.........one for the links too!
9 posted on 09/29/2003 10:43:17 AM PDT by FourtySeven
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Bird
My wife had her citizenship swearing-in ceremony at Ft. McHenry, with Old Glory waving in the background and the first verse of the anthem sung by a nice old army Sgt. Major. A great day, and she wept with pride to be an American.
10 posted on 09/29/2003 10:44:11 AM PDT by ko_kyi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Good old Ike. He could write.
11 posted on 09/29/2003 10:46:50 AM PDT by Steely Glint ("Communists are just Democrats in a big hurry.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Bttt...
12 posted on 09/29/2003 10:46:55 AM PDT by Chad Fairbanks (I like my women like I like my coffee - Hot, and in a big cup)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Good post.


Now if we could just get people to say the Pledge of Allegiance correctly.

It is not "ONE NATION (PAUSE) UNDER GOD."

It's "ONE NATION UNDER GOD" all in one breath.



Even the Senate says it wrong.
13 posted on 09/29/2003 10:48:42 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
BUMP
14 posted on 09/29/2003 10:57:05 AM PDT by KineticKitty (We support our troops...as long as what they say/do fits our preconceived notions?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
Great post!
About once a month, we sing this in church on Sunday, but only the first and fourth stanzas.

Epispcopal Church.
Saint David of Wales, Denton, Texas.
15 posted on 09/29/2003 11:04:41 AM PDT by Redbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Prof Engineer
SciFi ping

OOOHHH, for the author, not the story.

Glad I paused to think about it, I was about to take you to task. SciFi indeed! :)

16 posted on 09/29/2003 11:15:12 AM PDT by The_Victor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Redbob
About once a month, we sing this in church on Sunday, but only the first and fourth stanzas.

Epispcopal Church.
Saint David of Wales, Denton, Texas.

Note however, that all four stanzas are in the Episcopal Hymnal.

17 posted on 09/29/2003 11:16:49 AM PDT by The_Victor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: mhking
1000 men in Fort McHenry

Mostly militia, IIRC.

18 posted on 09/29/2003 11:27:44 AM PDT by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Redbob
It's nice to know that your Episcopal Church is populated by patriotic people pushing the homosexual agenda.
19 posted on 09/29/2003 11:50:45 AM PDT by PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: mhking
http://web8.si.edu/nmah/htdocs/ssb-old/6_thestory/6b_osay/fs6b.html


20 posted on 09/29/2003 11:57:35 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson