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One was a relatively small 'storm flag' that was during poor weather, and it was this flag that Francis Scott Key observed flying through the rainy day and night of the battle. In fact, two flags were actually flown over Fort McHenry during the battle on September 13th and 14th, 1814. People these days often refer to the American flag as simply the 'stars and stripes,' and Francis Scott Key also picked up on how important and recognizable those features of the flag are.

Was the American flag still flying? Would the “dawn’s early light” reveal the defeat or survival of the American fort? Understandably then, Key was anxious to see what the morning light revealed. If the flag had been gone the next morning, it would have meant that the British had won the battle.

He was watching the fighting at Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, Maryland, when the sun went down, and at that point, the American flag was still flying. The British and Americans were fighting each other in the War of 1812, and Key happened to be on a British ship as an American representative, hoping to negotiate the release of American hostages. What Key was looking for was the American flag flying above Fort McHenry. Key uses 'hailed' to mean, 'saw or took note of.' The 'twilight's last gleaming' is the very last bit of light before night falls, and 'dawn's early light' is the first sunlight the next morning.īasically, then, these lines ask, 'Hey, look over there! Now that it's light again, can we still see what we saw yesterday before it got dark?' Francis Scott Key was going for poetry, not for easy readability, so the language can be a little tricky to understand.

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