Star-Spangled Banner, The

Star-Spangled Banner, The
2. (italics) the national anthem of the United States of America, based on a poem written by Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, and set by him to the melody of the English song To Anacreon in Heaven: officially adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1931.

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▪ American national anthem
       national anthem of the United States. Francis Scott Key (Key, Francis Scott), a lawyer, wrote the lyrics after watching the British attack Fort McHenry, Maryland, in 1814, during the War of 1812. The melody was taken from “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a drinking song of the Anacreontic Society (of London) that was written by the British composer John Stafford Smith. Key's words were first published in a broadside in 1814 under the title “Defence of Fort M'Henry.” The song's title was changed when it appeared in sheet-music form later the same year. After a century of general use, the four-stanza song was officially adopted as the national anthem by act of Congress in 1931.

      Innumerable publications of the song through the years have shown variations in both words and music. An official arrangement was prepared by John Philip Sousa (Sousa, John Philip) for the U.S. Army and Navy, and music educators have spent much time and effort in arriving at a practical version. The second and third stanzas are customarily omitted out of courtesy to the British. The accepted text of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is as follows:

Oh, 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 rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through 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?
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, oh, 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.
Oh, 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.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Star-Spangled Banner, The —   [ȓə stɑː spæȖgld bænə; englisch »das sternenbesäte Banner«], Nationalhymne der USA (1916 von Präs. W. Wilson, 1931 vom Kongress dazu erklärt), eine von F. S. Key 1814 verfasste Hymne, der eine Melodie von John Stafford Smith (* 1750, ✝ 1836)… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Star-Spangled Banner, the — Star Span|gled Ban|ner, the [ ,star ,spæŋgld bænər ] 1. ) the national ANTHEM (=an official song sung to express loyalty to the country) of the U.S. 2. ) LITERARY the national flag of the U.S …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Star-Spangled Banner, The — Star′ Span gled Ban′ner, The n. gov Stars and Stripes …   From formal English to slang

  • Star-Spangled Banner, The — 1. See Stars and Stripes. 2. (italics) the national anthem of the United States of America, based on a poem written by Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, and set by him to the melody of the English song To Anacreon in Heaven: officially… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Star Spangled Banner — The Star Spangled Banner The Star Spangled Banner. (en) La Bannière étoilée …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Star-spangled Banner — The Star Spangled Banner. (en) La Bannière étoilée …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Star Spangled Banner — The Star Spangled Banner. (en) La Bannière étoilée …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The star-spangled banner — The Star Spangled Banner. (en) La Bannière étoilée …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Star-Spangled Banner — Español: La Bandera Llena de Estrellas Una de dos copias supervivientes de una impresión del poema Defence of Fort McHenry (defensa del fuerte McHenry), escrito que …   Wikipedia Español

  • Star-Spangled Banner (disambiguation) — Star Spangled Banner can mean: * The Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States * Flag of the United States, the national flag of the United States in general * Star Spangled Banner Flag, the actual flag that was flown over… …   Wikipedia

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