What's the meaning behind the Star Spangled Banner?
In short [well, it's pretty long] what does each line mean? I’m getting stuck on the second and third verses.
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O! 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 through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched 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.
O! 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!
O! 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!
THANKS EVERYONE for the answers so far, just wanted to add that I’m looking for a direct explanation of "Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution."
6 Responses
titansin04
29 Mar 2010
MR Baboon
29 Mar 2010
The Star Spangle Banner
This was written by the association of american Oddfellows they wanted to encapsulate the fellings of the new free land of America and the signifigance of God to thier culture of the time.
Little known fact that one of the founding forfathers of the Oddfellows was Huburt Hubbard the great grand father of L Ron Hubbard. Some say the oddfellows were a secret sect that had many rituals and had influence high into the corridors of power
manda
29 Mar 2010
everything the titan guy said was right. but he wrote the song while he was hostage. he looked out and saw bombs but saw the flag still flying high and knew that the americans were still free.
donutqueen
29 Mar 2010
Verse 2 is describing his sight of the flag as dawn is breaking.
The first three lines of verse 3 are asking where the British troops are that threatened the fort. Line 4 is saying that they have been defeated.
mr newbury
29 Mar 2010
WE KICK ASS !!!!
Courtney H
29 Mar 2010
it means that the americans did not give up in the battle because the flag was still there
the gouty who wrote it was a prisoner of the British Army during that time; he was there though the night an d in the morning he looked ti see who won and he saw the American flag still there.
The whole thing is about Francis Scott Key seeing 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, giving Key reason to write his triumphant poem.