United States
The Star-Spangled Banner
1814
1931
Francis Scott Key
John Stafford Smith
🚩 Flag ⚔ Battle / War 🕊 Freedom |
Context
Written by Francis Scott Key on the back of a letter while watching the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor on September 14, 1814. Key was aboard a British ship negotiating a prisoner release and had to watch the 25-hour attack unfold. When dawn broke and the enormous American flag was still flying, he wrote the poem that became the anthem.
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?
Translations are non-official and intended to convey meaning, not replace originals
Interesting facts
- • The melody is borrowed from a British drinking club song called 'To Anacreon in Heaven,' written for the Anacreontic Society in London
- • It only became the official anthem in 1931; before that, 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee' and 'Hail, Columbia' were commonly used
- • The flag that inspired the anthem measured 30 by 42 feet and is now preserved at the Smithsonian, requiring near-total darkness to prevent deterioration