In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
Have You Seen This Before?
sig232
Member Posts: 8,018
This is the first time I have seen this. If you have read it before just forgive me and move on.[:0]
MUSIC
A great history lesson...
Our national anthem!
How many of us have EVER heard it all or known
the full circumstances or the time and place
of the poetry and the characters involved.
By Isaac Asimov
I have a weakness--I am crazy, absolutely nuts, about our national anthem.
The words are difficult and the tune is almost impossible, but frequently when
I'm taking a shower I sing it with as much power and emotion as I can. It shakes
me up every time.
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 gro ans. 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 weak country. Great Britain was in a
life and death struggle with Napol eon. 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 fo r 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 1000 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 bombard ment 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 (not actually "bombs", but what we
would call mortar shells, from the British Ships - Clay) 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 (and usually a drinking song - Clay). 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 d o 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 II, 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 i t 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.
MUSIC
A great history lesson...
Our national anthem!
How many of us have EVER heard it all or known
the full circumstances or the time and place
of the poetry and the characters involved.
By Isaac Asimov
I have a weakness--I am crazy, absolutely nuts, about our national anthem.
The words are difficult and the tune is almost impossible, but frequently when
I'm taking a shower I sing it with as much power and emotion as I can. It shakes
me up every time.
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 gro ans. 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 weak country. Great Britain was in a
life and death struggle with Napol eon. 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 fo r 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 1000 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 bombard ment 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 (not actually "bombs", but what we
would call mortar shells, from the British Ships - Clay) 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 (and usually a drinking song - Clay). 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 d o 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 II, 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 i t 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.
Comments
I know that 90% of the folks won't read that comprehensively, but I wish they would. It's a true and terrific story that gives insight to why Americans came to love their country and freedom and why we were so much more patriotic in years past than we are now.
Those days have passed. Today, when American companies care more about profit than than their middle-class neighbors that need good-paying jobs and squeeze them out by farming out jobs to foreign labor pools, and businesses by the thousand that bank and operate from Islands in the ocean rather than pay their fair share of taxes
are dissolving us into the global pot economically and socially.
Thanks for posting it.
sig232,
I know that 90% of the folks won't read that comprehensively, but I wish they would. It's a true and terrific story that gives insight to why Americans came to love their country and freedom and why we were so much more patriotic in years past than we are now.
Those days have passed. Today, when American companies care more about profit than than their middle-class neighbors that need good-paying jobs and squeeze them out by farming out jobs to foreign labor pools, and businesses by the thousand that bank and operate from Islands in the ocean rather than pay their fair share of taxes
are dissolving us into the global pot economically and socially.
Thanks for posting it.
Well said "Frogbert," and remember it is both parties that have sold us down the river with that "free trade" line. Liberals and Conservatives alike vote like little Trolls in favor of this routine that lets our salaries "float" like our currency in the world economy with the third world countries.[:(]
Makes me glad I am retired but I do worry about all you guys working out there trying to make a honest living.[V]