Francis Scott Key's 'The Star-Spangled Banner'

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In the first stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Francis Scott Key addresses the beauty of the American flag as it was waving at the dawn after the Battle of Baltimore. As he stood on the deck of a ship, Key waited to see if the American’s would emerge victoriously through the night. At dawn, the United States (U.S.) raised its flag to display its victory. The first stanza serves as a depiction of the joy Key feels through the description of the flag as it is an embodiment of his emotions, “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” (Key). Key describes the strength and beauty of the flag in a proud manner that relates to his now strong patriotic feelings after witnessing the battle. …show more content…

He first establishes that all can see the flag, especially the enemy, “Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes” (Key). The next lines of the poem show that not only can the flag be seen, but it waves in the glory of the morning, “Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, / In full glory reflected now shines in the stream” (Key). This stanza displays that the flag has been raised on a morning that complements its greatness and all can see it.
The third stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner” serves to display the follies of the British. Key begins by stating that the British were overly confident in their belief that they would win the war, “And where is that band who vauntingly swore” (Key). He then goes on to describe how the British corrupted the U.S. soil, but American victory has washed away all of their destruction, “Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution” (Key). The third stanza serves to show that regardless of what the British have done, the Americans will emerge in

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