Sammlung Prof. Dr. Sabine Giesbrecht ➔ The Star-Spangled Banner - Francis Scott Key

The Star-Spangled Banner.

Oh say, can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at twilight’s last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thro' 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 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?
    
From the shore dimly seen thro' 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 on the stream;
"Tis the Star-Spangled Banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!   

And where is that band that 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 foot-steps’ 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!
    

And thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war’s desolation;
Blest with victory and peace may the Heaven-rescu'd 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, O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Every American knows Francis Scott Key as the author of | our national anthem, which he wrote on the British frigate | "Surprise" during the bombardment of Fort McHenry, where he | had gone to arrange for the exchange of prisoners. Admiral | Cockburn received Key courteously, but as preparations had been | made for attacking the fort he was kept on board, at at early | dawn when he saw the stars und stripes still floating over the | fort he wrote the Star-Spangled Banner. [...] Key was born in | Frederick County, Md. Aug. 1st, 1779. He was educated at Saint | John's College, Annapolis, and studied and practiced law in Fred- | erick. In 1801 moved to Washington; died in Baltimore Jan. 11th, 1843, while on a visit to his son-in-law. [...] The Key mansion, his | Washington home, is still standing and is reproduced on this card | as is also his monument, which marks the resting place of Key | and his wife, in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, Maryland.

Francis Scott Key | The Key Mansion. | Home of Key - Washington, D. C. | Grave and Monument | of Francis Scott Key | Frederick, MD.