Hook Exercise: The Star Spangled Banner
From September 13 to September 14, 1814, British ships bombarded Fort McHenry, in Baltimore Harbor.
Prior to the battle, American lawyer Francis Scott Key had gone aboard one of the British ships, HMS
Tonnant to negotiate the release of an American prisoner. After the battle began, he was trapped on
board and bore witness to the massive bombs falling on the fort all night long on the thirteenth and into
the morning of the fourteenth. After over twenty-two hours of bombing, at dawn on the morning of the
fourteenth, Key saw the huge flag flying over Fort McHenry. After the battle was over he returned to
Baltimore by boat. On board, he was inspired to write a poem, which he called “The Defense of Fort
McHenry,” but which has come to be known as the “Star Spangled Banner.”
Directions: Read the first stanza of the Star Spangled Banner and in the empty space below, illustrate it.
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 night,
O'er the ramparts we watched, 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?
Illustration:
From September 13 to September 14, 1814, British ships bombarded Fort McHenry, in Baltimore Harbor.
Prior to the battle, American lawyer Francis Scott Key had gone aboard one of the British ships, HMS
Tonnant to negotiate the release of an American prisoner. After the battle began, he was trapped on
board and bore witness to the massive bombs falling on the fort all night long on the thirteenth and into
the morning of the fourteenth. After over twenty-two hours of bombing, at dawn on the morning of the
fourteenth, Key saw the huge flag flying over Fort McHenry. After the battle was over he returned to
Baltimore by boat. On board, he was inspired to write a poem, which he called “The Defense of Fort
McHenry,” but which has come to be known as the “Star Spangled Banner.”
Directions: Read the first stanza of the Star Spangled Banner and in the empty space below, illustrate it.
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 night,
O'er the ramparts we watched, 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?
Illustration: