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All Four Stanzas
The Pure Water Gazette ^ | March 1991 | Isaac Asimov

Posted on 07/04/2004 10:26:51 PM PDT by FreedomCalls

All Four Stanzas

By Isaac Asimov

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
KEYWORDS: 4thofjuly; anthem; baltimore; fortmchenry; fourthofjuly; francisscottkey; greatbritain; ingodisourtrust; isaacasimov; napoleon; nationalanthem; patrioticsongs; patriotism; song; starspangledbanner; toanacreoninheaven; uk; warof1812
Happy Independence Day!
1 posted on 07/04/2004 10:26:51 PM PDT by FreedomCalls
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To: FreedomCalls

Wow from Aasimov no less. Who'd of thunk it? One of my favorite memories was taking a night time harbor tour where I was able to see that over sized Old Glory still flying in the breeze as the story was told and the song was played. Still gives me goose bumps just thinking about it


2 posted on 07/04/2004 10:55:38 PM PDT by jnarcus
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To: FreedomCalls

does someone have a link to where all 4 stanzas are sung?


3 posted on 07/04/2004 11:02:13 PM PDT by gilliam
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To: FreedomCalls
I've always loved our anthem. The sudden tears that often well up at its hearing give proof to anyone who loves America that The Star Spangled Banner is meant for us.
4 posted on 07/04/2004 11:08:17 PM PDT by luvbach1 (Leftists don't acknowledge that Reagan won the cold war because they rooted for the other side.)
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To: FreedomCalls

I wonder how many Americans even know there are 4 stanzas?


5 posted on 07/04/2004 11:20:20 PM PDT by Kirkwood
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To: FreedomCalls

Thanks -- we were just discussing the other three verses during fireworks after singing the first.


6 posted on 07/05/2004 12:13:05 AM PDT by meadsjn
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To: jnarcus

This is no joke, we went to Fort McHenry on "flag pole painting day" so there was no flag over the Fort when we toured it.


7 posted on 07/05/2004 12:29:13 AM PDT by weegee (Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. ~~Ronald Reagan)
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To: weegee

BTW, the original flag is at the Smithsonian. I was able to see it (it was uncovered every hour or so, briefly for exhibition). Don't know if they still expose it to the light.


8 posted on 07/05/2004 12:31:03 AM PDT by weegee (Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. ~~Ronald Reagan)
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To: FreedomCalls

a bunch of us baltimorons were visiting the battle fields of louisiana as the tour guide boasted of the battle of new orleans as the jewel of the war of 1812...

after her depiction of the saving of the nation by ole hickory, we asked her a few choice questions concerning fort mchenry... like...

isn't it true our national anthem came from a depiction of another battle? she answered that was more of a bombardment than a battle...

we ended with our pasty resistance being, didn't the battle of new orleans actually occur two weeks after peace was declared? she confessed it was but barring slow news the battle was still the most significant...

fort mchenry will always hold the most special credit to america's freedom... the home of the star spangled banner...

long may she wave...

teeman


9 posted on 07/05/2004 6:04:28 AM PDT by teeman8r
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To: teeman8r

Given the British refusal to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783) and abandon military posts in the US until the mid 1790s, why do you think that they would have observed the terms of the Treaty of Ghent more scrupulously? Most likely, they would have held New Orleans and environs, and shut off Mississippi River commerce until the US found some way to force them out.


10 posted on 07/05/2004 8:59:27 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
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To: teeman8r

The Battle of New Orleans was EXTREMELY important in our nation's history. Too bad you didn't get anything out of your visit there.


11 posted on 07/05/2004 5:20:03 PM PDT by Kirkwood
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