• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Become a Friend of the River Houses today!

The River Houses

A National Network of Local Homeschool Societies

  • Subscribe!
  • Home
  • Topics ▾
    • Arts & Music
    • Astronomy
    • Books & Libraries
    • Collections & Collecting
    • Friday Bird Families
    • Great Stars
    • Holidays & History
    • Language & Literature
    • Lunar Society Bulletins
    • Maps & Geography
    • Museums & Monuments
    • Natural History
    • Poems-of-the-Week
    • Quick Freshes
    • Research & News
    • States & Countries
    • Terms & Calendars
    • Weekly World Heritage
  • Calendars
  • Six Books
  • TWOC ▾
    • The Lunar Society of the River Houses
  • About Us ▾
    • Our Mascots
  • Friends
  • Shop!
You are here: Home > Homeschool Language & Literature > Poems-of-the-Week > This Post

🖋 🇺🇸 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): “O! say can you see?”

8 June 2022 by Bob O'Hara

Next Tuesday (June 14th) is Flag Day, the anniversary of the date in 1777 when Congress adopted the Stars & Stripes as the national flag of the United States. That means our homeschool poem-of-the-week for this second week of June is “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” much better known as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” by Francis Scott Key (1779–1843):

Defence of Fort M’Henry

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

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists 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, O! long may it wave
   O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
 That the havock of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
 Their blood has wash’d out their foul foot-steps’ 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.

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

Key was a prominent Maryland lawyer who was involved in prisoner-exchange negotiations with the British during the too-little-remembered War of 1812 (1812–1815), sometimes called the Second War for American Independence. In September of 1814, Key was meeting with British naval officers on board a ship in Chesapeake Bay when the British began an artillery assault on Fort McHenry, the principal American defensive point at the entrance to Baltimore harbor.

Key was detained by the British for the duration of the attack so he wouldn’t be able to reveal any intelligence he had acquired about their plans, and he was thus left powerless with nothing to do but watch as his country’s fort was bombarded all through September 13th and overnight into the 14th. But as the sun rose on the 14th, by the dawn’s early light, he saw through a spyglass that the fort’s American defenders had survived the artillery bombardment with their flag still flying.

Key’s published poem commemorating the event, initially titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” was paired with a popular British club song of the day, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” and together they became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner” — and the rest is musical history.

You can see the real Star-Spangled Banner — the actual flag that flew that morning over Fort McHenry — at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. That’s a field trip you should certainly try to take at some point during your homeschooling years.

The original Star-Spangled Banner on exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. (Image: Smithsonian Institution.)

What wonderful words will you find and what musico-literary discoveries will you be making in your homeschool this Hercules Term? 😊

❡ Gallantly streaming: If a special line or turn of phrase happens to strike you in one of our weekly poems, just copy it onto your homeschool bulletin board for a few days and invite your students to speak it aloud — that’s all it takes to begin a new poetical friendship and learn a few lovely words that will stay with you for life. 🇺🇸

❡ Explore more: You can find a quick history of the national anthem (and all four of its verses) in your River Houses almanac. 📚

❡ Wave–brave: The National Anthem is a poem, so what is its rhyme scheme? Can your students work it out? In the first stanza we have: light–gleaming–fight–streaming air–there wave–brave. I’d make that ABAB CC DD. How about the second stanza? It has: deep–reposes–steep–discloses beam–stream wave–brave. Exactly the same pattern; and so also the third and fourth stanzas. And did you notice Key’s very clever stanza-endings? Each one finishes with the same two rhyming words: wave–brave. The whole poem is a precisely fitted piece of literary labor. ✒️

❡ Come, here’s the map: Baltimore, Maryland, appears on plate 43 in your recommended family atlas. The map will give you a real sense of how far up into the Chesapeake Bay the British navy had penetrated during the War of 1812. 🗺

❡ Here, said the year: This post is one of our regular homeschool poems-of-the-week. Print your own River Houses Poetry Calendar to follow along with us as we visit fifty of our favorite friends over the course of the year, and add your name to our River Houses mailing list to get posts like these delivered right to your mailbox every week. 🗞

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related Posts:

  • 🖋 🌅 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Turning Toward the Morning🖋 🌅 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Turning Toward the Morning
  • 🖋 🌱 WONDERFUL WORDS: Nothing Gold Can Stay🖋 🌱 WONDERFUL WORDS: Nothing Gold Can Stay
  • 🎵 🎭 TWELFTH NIGHT and the End of Holiday Music Month 2022–2023🎵 🎭 TWELFTH NIGHT and the End of Holiday Music Month 2022–2023
  • 🖋 🍻 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Auld Lang Syne🖋 🍻 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Auld Lang Syne

Filed Under: Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Holidays & History, Homeschool Language & Literature, Poems-of-the-Week

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Our Newsletter!

It’s free! Your name and email address are never shared with any third parties.

CHECK YOUR INBOX (or spam folder) to confirm your subscription. Thank you! 😊

Search the River Houses

Recent Posts

  • 🎵 HOMESCHOOL MUSIC: Happy Birthday Mozart!
  • 🦉 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Barn Owls and Typical Owls
  • 🌎 🇯🇲 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Blue and John Crow Mountains in Jamaica
  • 🌊 HOMESCHOOL HISTORY & LITERATURE: Remembering Challenger
  • 🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 22 January 2023
  • 🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Illinois, Ireland, Jamaica, and More
  • 🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Vultures, Ospreys, Hawks, Kites, and Eagles
  • 🌍 🇮🇶 WEEKLY WORLD HERITAGE: Ancient Babylon in Iraq
  • 🔎 HOMESCHOOL RESEARCH & NEWS – January 2023
  • 🖋 🇺🇸 WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Lift Every Voice and Sing
  • 🗓 QUICK FRESHES for Homeschool Families – Week of 15 January 2023
  • 🌎 🇺🇸 SUNDAY STATES: Mississippi, India, Iraq, and More
  • 🌟 STAR BRIGHT: Capella for January
  • 🗓 🗡 HAPPY CROSS-QUARTER DAY of Orion Term 2022–2023
  • 🦅 FRIDAY BIRD FAMILIES: Herons, Bitterns, Ibises, and Spoonbills

Post Calendar

January 2023
S M T W T F S
« Dec    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  

Post Categories

  • 🎵 Homeschool Arts & Music
  • 🔭 Homeschool Astronomy
  • 📚 Homeschool Books & Libraries
  • 💰 Homeschool Collections & Collecting
  • 📅 Homeschool Holidays & History
  • 📖 Homeschool Language & Literature
  • 🌕 Lunar Society Bulletins
  • 🗺 Homeschool Maps & Geography
  • 🏛 Homeschool Museums & Monuments
  • 🏞 Homeschool Natural History
  • 🗓 Quick Freshes for Homeschool Families
  • 🔎 Homeschool Research & News
  • 🌎 🇺🇸 Homeschool States & Countries
  • 🗓 Homeschool Terms & Calendars

Astronomy

  • American Meteor Society
    • – Fireball Reporting System
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day
  • Evening Sky Maps
  • Homeschool Astronomy (Sky & Telescope)
  • Hubble Space Telescope
    • – Learning Resources
  • NASA
    • – Asteroid Watch
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Our Solar System
    • – Spot the Station
    • – Webb Space Telescope
  • The Planets Today
    • – Light-Distance to the Planets
  • The Sky This Week (USNO)
  • Space Weather
  • Stellarium Night Sky Charts
  • Time and Date
    • – Eclipses
    • – Meteor Showers
    • – Moon Phases
    • – Seasons
  • Tonight’s Sky (hubblesite.com)
  • Virtual Planisphere

Books & Libraries

  • Baldwin Library of Children’s Literature
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • Classic Children’s Books (read.gov)
  • Folger Shakespeare Library
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Shakespeare’s Plays Online
  • HathiTrust Digital Library
  • In Our Time (BBC Podcasts)
  • New York Public Library Digital Collections
  • Project Gutenberg
  • US Library of Congress
    • – Children’s Book Selections
    • – Educator Resources
    • – LC Blogs
    • – LC Digital Collections
    • – Minerva’s Kaleidoscope
  • US National Archives
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Founders Online
    • – K–5 Resources
    • – Teaching With Documents
  • Vatican Library Digital Collections
  • WorldCat Library Catalog
    • – WorldCat Library Finder
  • World Digital Library

Museums, Parks, & Monuments

  • Art Collections Online
  • British Museum Collections Online
  • Google Arts & Culture Collections
  • Smithsonian Institution
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Smithsonian Museums
    • – Smithsonian Open Access
  • Timeline of Art History
  • US National Park Service
    • – Educator Resources
    • – National Memorials
    • – National Monuments
    • – National Parks
    • – Wild & Scenic Rivers Program
  • US National Wildlife Refuges
  • US State Parks
  • Watercolour World

Natural History

  • All About Birds (Cornell University)
    • – Bird Identification Guide
    • – eBird Online
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • BirdCast Daily Migration Maps
  • Time and Date
    • – Seasons
  • UC Museum of Paleontology
    • – Educator Resources
  • US Fish & Wildlife Service
    • – Education Programs
  • US Geological Survey
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Latest Earthquakes
  • US National Weather Service
    • – Educator Resources
    • – Nationwide Air Quality
    • – Nationwide River Conditions
    • – Wildfire and Smoke Map
  • Wild & Scenic Rivers Program

Maps & Geography

  • Antipodes Map
  • FlightAware (Planes in the Air)
  • Mapquest World Maps
  • MarineTraffic (Ships at Sea)
  • OpenStreetMap World Maps
  • Printable Blank Maps & Flags
  • Printable Outline Maps (d-maps.com)
  • River Runner
  • USGS Topographic Maps
  • World Factbook (cia.gov)
  • World Heritage Sites (UNESCO)
    • – Educator Resources
  • Zoom Earth

Civics & Social Science

  • Bill of Rights Institute
  • Constitution Center
  • C-Span Classroom
  • Free Speech Curriculum from FIRE
  • Foundation for Economic Education
  • History of the Western World (I)
    • – Western World (II)
  • iCivics.org
  • Learn Liberty
  • Mises Institute Economics
  • MyMoney.gov
    • – Educator Resources
  • Online Library of Liberty
  • US Founding Documents
  • US Government Portal
    • – The Congress
    • – The Supreme Court
    • – The White House
  • US Mint
    • – Coin Activities for Kids
    • – Educator Resources
  • US Postal Museum
    • – Explore the Collections
    • – Activities for Kids
    • – Stamps Teach (from APS)
  • Visual Capitalist

Post Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • April 2017
Sign up for our free newsletter and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox every week!

All original content © 2017–2023 by The River Houses · The River Houses and the River Houses emblem are Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.