Values in the American National Anthem

Abstract

The best perspective to start from in order to understand the basic message of the poem is a historical perspective. In the first chapter, I will explain how the poem was created and then continue to illustrate the way in which it achieved its present anthem status. There after, the following chapters will continue to focus on and analyze its values, the most significant being either patriotism or nationalism. In the third chapter, I will define which one of these values is present in the poem. In connection with this question, “America, the Beautiful” often occurs as the unofficial national anthem, therefore, I elaborate about this in the fourth chapter. In the last two chapters, I will analyze those values that originate from before the birth of the poem and those values that are present in the poem. With this focus I will prove that although it has definite references to war, "The Star-Spangled Banner" represents the core of American values.