meaning of the star spangled banner song

Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation! O thus be it ever when free-men shall standīetween their lov'd home and the war's desolation īlest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. No refuge could save the hireling and slaveįrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:Īnd the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution. That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,Ī home and a country should leave us no more? O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!Īnd where is that band who so vauntingly swore 'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream: Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,Īs it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?Īnd the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming? O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

Meaning of the star spangled banner song