Impressive Story of American Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner
After reading the story (the War of 1812) and listening to the anthem again, I found it so touching and impressive that i can't help sharing it.
(Hope spirits of deceased Thai patriots aren't mad at me. T.T)

'Sept 13-14, 1814: Held captive aboard a British ship while the Royal Navy attacks Baltimore, lawyer Francis Scott Key witnesses the nighttime bombardment of Fort McHenry. At dawn, when he sees the US flag still flying, an overjoyed Key immediately pens "The Star-Spangled Banner." Set to an English drinking song, Key's poem will become the official national anthem of the United States in 1931.

After his release, Francis Scott Key rewrote the poem in a Baltimore hotel room. It was printed anonymously under the title "Defence of Fort McHenry" before the Baltimore Patriot published it on September 20, 1814.'
(Story from 'The United States in the 19th Century')


***The Star-Spangled Banner***

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru 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 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 washed out their foul footsteps' 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 loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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!

*** Key saw the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry in Baltimore after a night of intense siege and bombardment by the British during the War of 1812. Seeing the flag was significant, for it meant that the fort survived the night without being overrun or surrendering***




Create Date : 25 พฤษภาคม 2554
Last Update : 25 พฤษภาคม 2554 21:01:35 น.
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