Like so many famous songs of yore, "The Star-Spangled Banner" started as a poem, called “The Defence of Fort McHenry.” It was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 during the War of 1812.

Re “Remove ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ as national anthem ... So I guess anything they wrote should be removed. So let’s get rid of the Constitution. The poem is a form of art and should ...

Rather than address claims against the song, it would be my pleasure to look at what makes our national anthem so great.

Boiled down to its essence, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is a song about survival and resilience, about bravery and hope. The first stanza of Francis Scott Key's 1814 poem, as sung by generations of ...