[Nfbf-l] The star spangled banner, a must read!

Fri Jul 3 15:49:30 UTC 2009

Thank you Kirk for sending this.
I certainly will send this on.
Joanne
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kirk" <kvharmon54 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Florida Listserv" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 11:05 AM
Subject: [Nfbf-l] The star spangled banner, a must read!

:
: BY DR. ISAAC ASIMOV
:
: I was once asked to speak at a luncheon. Taking my life in my hands, I
: announced I was going to sing our national anthem -- all four stanzas. 
This
: was greeted with loud groans. One man closed the door to the kitchen , 
where
: the noise of dishes and cutlery was loud and distracting. "Thanks, Herb," 
I
: said.
:
: "That's all right," he said. "It was at the request of the kitchen staff"!
:
: I explained the background of the anthem and then sang all four stanzas. 
Let
: me tell you, those people had never heard it before -- or had never really
: listened. I got a standing ovation. But it was not me; it was the anthem.
:
: More recently, while conducting a seminar, I told my students the story of
: the anthem and sang all four stanzas. Again there was a wild ovation and
: prolonged applause. And again, it was the anthem and not me.
:
: So now let me tell you how it came to be written.
:
: In 1812, the United States went to war with Great Britain, primarily over
: freedom of the seas. We were in the right. For two years, we held off the
: British, even though we were still a rather wea k country. Great Britain 
was
: in a life and death struggle with Napoleon. In fact, just as the United
: States declared war, Napoleon marched off to invade Russia . If he won, as
: everyone expected, he would control Europe, and Great Britain would be
: isolated. It was no time for her to be involved in an American war.
:
: At first, our seamen proved better than the British. After we won a battle
: on Lake Erie in 1813, the American commander, Oliver Hazard Perry, sent 
the
: message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." However, the weight of
: the British navy beat down our ships eventually. New England, hard-hit by 
a
: tightening blockade, threatened secession.
:
: Meanwhile, Napoleon was beaten in Russia and in 1814 was forced to 
abdicate.
: Great Britain now turned its attention to the United States, launching a
: three-pronged attack.
:
: The northern prong was to come down Lake Champlain toward New York and 
seize
: parts of New England .
:
: The southern prong was to go up the Mississippi , take New Orleans and
: paralyze the west.
:
: The central prong was to head for the mid-Atlantic states and then attack
: Baltimore, the greatest port south of New York . If Baltimore was taken, 
the
: nation, which still hugged the Atlantic coast, could be split in two. The
: fate of the United States, then, rested to a large extent on the success 
or
: failure of the central prong.
:
: The British reached the American coast, and on August 24, 1814, took
: Washington, D.C. Then they moved up the Chesapeake Bay toward Baltimore. 
On
: September 12, they arrived and found 1,000 men in Fort McHenry, whose guns
: controlled the harbor. If the British wished to take Baltimore, they would
: have to take the fort.
:
: On one of the British ships was an aged physician, William Beanes, who had
: been arrested in Maryland and brought along as a prisoner. Francis Scott
: Key, a lawyer and friend of the physician, had come to the ship to 
negotiate
: his release.
:
: The British captain was willing, but the two Americans would have to wait.
: It was now the night of September 13, and the bombardment of Fort McHenry
: was about to start.
:
: As twilight deepened, Key and Beanes saw the American flag flying over 
Fort
: McHenry Through the night, they heard bombs bursting and saw the red glare
: of rockets. They knew the fort was resisting and the American flag was 
still
: flying. But toward morning the bombardment ceased, and a dread silence 
fell.
: Either Fort McHenry had surrendered and the British flag flew above it, or
: the bombardment had failed and the American flag still flew.
:
: As dawn began to brighten the eastern sky, Key and Beanes stared out at 
the
: fort, trying to see which flag flew over it. He and the physician must 
have
: asked each other over and over, "Can you see the flag?"
:
: After it was all finished, Key wrote a four stanza poem telling the events
: of the night. Called "The Defense of Fort McHenry ," it was published in
: newspapers and swept the nation. Someone noted that the words fit an old
: English tune called, "To Anacreon in Heaven" -- a difficult melody with an
: uncomfortably large vocal range. For obvious reasons, Key's work became
: known as "The Star Spangled Banner," and in 1931 Congress declared it the
: official anthem of the United States .
:
: Now that you know the story, here are the words. Presumably, the old 
doctor
: is speaking. This is what he asks Key:
:
: 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,
: through 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
: 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?
:
: ("Ramparts," in case you don't know, are the protective walls or other
: elevations that surround a fort.) The first stanza asks a question. The
: second gives an answer:
:
: On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist 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. Oh! long may it wave
: O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
:
: "The towering steep" is again, the ramparts. The bombardment has failed, 
and
: the British can do nothing more but sail away, their mission a failure. In
: the third stanza I feel Key allows himself to gloat over the American
: triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key probably was in no mood 
to
: act otherwise? During World War I when the British were our staunchest
: allies, this third stanza was not sung. However, I know it, so here it is:
:
: 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 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.
:
: (The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more 
slowly
: than the other three and with even deeper feeling):
:
: Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes 
and
: the war's desolation, Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven - 
rescued
: land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then 
conquer
: we must, for our cause is just, And this be our motto --"In God is our
: trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of
: the free and the home of the brave.
:
: I hope you will look at the national anthem with new eyes. Listen to it, 
the
: next time you have a chance, with new ears. Pay attention to the words. 
And
: don't let them ever take it away ... not even one word of it.
:
: AND IT'S SUNG IN ENGLISH!!!
:
: Freedom has never been free. God Bless America.
:
: Kirk Harmon
: 1031 Lenmore Ct.
: Orlando, FL. 32812
:
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