Defence of Fort McHenry (The Stars and Stripes Forever) Analysis

1O! say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
2What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
3Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
4O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
5And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
6Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there --
7O! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
8O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?

9On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
10Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
11What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep,
12As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
13Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
14In full glory reflected now shines on the stream --
15'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
16O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

17And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
18That the havock of war and the battle's confusion
19A home and a country should leave us no more?
20Their blood has wash'd out their foul foot-steps' pollution,
21No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
22From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave;
23And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
24O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

25O! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
26Between their lov'd home, and the war's desolation,
27Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
28Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
29Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
30And this be our motto -- "In God is our trust!"
31And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
32O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

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