[Dean's World] Rosemary the Queen: O Say Can You See...

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Rosemary the Queen:
O Say Can You See...
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1178186373.shtml


   Most people know that our national anthem was penned by Francis Scott
   Key. History buffs know that Key's inspiration for writing the poem,
   that would later be our anthem, was seeing the bombardment of Fort
   McHenry by British ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.

   Mazurek DÄbrowskiego is the Polish national anthem (since February
   1927), it was written by Józef Wybicki in 1797. It was first known as
   then "Anthem of the Polish Legions in Italy", it is also informally
   known in English as "Poland Has Not Yet Perished" or Jeszcze Polska
   nie zginÄÅa. The song originated during the formation of the Polish
   Legions under the command of General DÄbrowski. It was a nationalist
   call to arms to save the Polish state which had fallen under foreign
   occupation. The song was so popular throughout Europe during the
   European Revolutions of 1848 that it inspired poet Samuel Tomašik to
   write the anthem "Hey Slavs" based on it's melody. "Hey Slavs" was
   adopted as the Pan-Slavic anthem and later (during WWII) became the
   national anthem of Yugoslavia.

   I was surprised to discover that the origin of "God Save The
   King/Queen" is surrounded by uncertainty and speculation. Although
   nobody knows for sure where it came from, the tune of this anthem is
   used by many other nations. It is currently the Royal Anthem of
   Canada, Australia and Jamaica. New Zealand still uses it as their
   national anthem.

   Anyone know anything about the origins of any other National Anthems?
   I'm just curious how many other national anthems are rooted in war and
   how many are basically just old hymns that were adopted as anthems.