
The Star-Spangled Banner's third verse - barbe
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/video-do-you-know-the-star-spangled-banners-third-verse/
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pcunite
The third verse is expressing this sentiment: "neither a hired hitman or a
person forced into attacking us will win. They will both meet a gloomy end
while the banner continues to wave triumphantly over any and all who oppose".

Its a very grim reminder of the horrors of war. It took a lot to create the
nation of America. It was very costly to also bring about the freedom of all
people. America set a precedent for the rest of the world to follow.

A good rendition: [https://youtu.be/N_lCmBvYMRs](https://youtu.be/N_lCmBvYMRs)

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eesmith
I learned about "the gloom of the grave" from, of all things, Asimov's short
story "No Refuge Could Save" \-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Refuge_Could_Save](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Refuge_Could_Save)

> While questioning a suspected German spy, he performed a word association
> test on him. When Griswold said "terror of flight," the suspect replied,
> "gloom of the grave." This was evidence that he was a spy who had been
> trained up in Americanisms, since the two phrases allude to a line in the
> third verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and no native-born American could
> possibly be familiar with the third verse of the national anthem ("except
> for me, and I know everything," added Griswold).

I never put the context together to realize it was talking about threatening
to return free people to slavery.

More Wikipedia context about these lines at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-
Spangled_Banner#slave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-
Spangled_Banner#slave) . That page also mentions the NAACP call to remove the
national anthem/

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eqvinox
Still better than the German national anthem, which is the 3rd verse of a poem
whose 1st verse is outlawed as nazi paraphernalia...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschlandlied](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschlandlied)

"Germany, Germany above all, [...]"

[edit: this is only intended to point this out as a "similar curiosity"; both
are quite questionable in current times.]

