1814 in Poetry

1814 In Poetry

-- last stanza of The Battle of Fort McHenry, original title of Francis Scott Key's The Star Spangled Banner. Key's brother-in-law saw that it could be put to the music of a popular song and had the poem published in a broadside on September 17, three days after Key wrote the poem during the British attack near Baltimore, Maryland (part of the War of 1812). The poem was quickly reprinted by two Baltimore newspapers, and its popularity spread. In 1931 it was officially adopted as the United States national anthem.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).