Guy Tiphane
Zoe Ullman
EN 214
September 23, 2003

What Works in National Anthems

Upon reading Francis Scott Key’s Defence of Fort McHenry, I found interesting that a national anthem actually came from independent writing instead of being commissioned, for example. It had appeared to me that it would be politically convenient to influence the words of a song imposed on the citizens, and that it would help the developing of an agenda (some kind of a social plan). Although a true study of the effect of national anthems on the citizens of different countries would belong to other disciplines, I thought it would be interesting to look at a few national anthems and see if they could reflect the character of the nation they represent.

Initially I found that many countries had only adopted an anthem in the last century, and also that many had no words. The music played at award ceremonies of the Olympic Games sometimes derives from military marches honoring royalty, and that fact alone may reflect how the citizens of the country feel about it. In other cases a song that had become popular among the people had then been adopted as the anthem, and the music played alone would have less significance. A country’s anthem would be one of its most known poetry and as such be positioned to reflect some of the feelings its people express towards their native or adopted land.

Obviously other factors contribute to how the anthem helps shape society. Not all countries use it as extensively as in the United States where it is used at the beginning of sports and other events, giving it a good amount of repetition. If the symbolism used is less tangible, political associations are less likely (for example, Canada’s anthem talks mostly about the land).

I chose five anthems for the availability of original English lyrics (United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and Ireland), but added two in translation for the sake of curiosity (Japan and France). The differences are striking and seem to reflect at least a bit of each country’s character.

United States

The first stanza of F.S. Key’s Defence of Fort McHenry (1814), the United States national anthem became an ode to the flag as the symbol of the nation. Originally written to describe the sight of the flag still standing on the fort after a night of bombardment, the poem expressed pride in the resistance and the preserving of the young nation. Now taken out of context, and although it talks about rockets and bombs, the first stanza keeps the focus on the flag. The features of the flag and its name (capitalized in the official version) are mentioned three times. The poem becomes very visual, with active verbs such as “see” and “watched,” and the use of light (“early light,” “twilight,” “gleaming,” “glare”). It is almost as if the rockets and bombs were instruments of light (as in fireworks) instead of war.

Canada

Canada has two founding nations (if we ignore the natives) and the initial song “O, Canada” was originally written in French in 1880 as a song (after the music). English Lyrics were then written (in 1908) but not as a translation of the French, which emphasizes the differences between the two views of what the country represents. Both were cut to the first stanza to become the official anthem in 1980, which may have been needed to remove most of the religious references, particularly from the French version. The French version still contains the word “cross” and “faith,” and the English version wishes God to keep the country “glorious and free.” In the cutting, the English version was stripped of its references to nature (a feature that had probably contributed to its early success), but some of its words were changed by a committee.

Interestingly enough, the stripped 1968 versions have only been played for about 20 years. Still, the song refers mostly about the land, with words such as “home and native land,” “True North,” and “far and wide,” and suggests that “Canada” is an entity to command “patriot love” and to “stand on guard” for.

Australia

Australia’s Advance Australia Fair was chosen to become the national anthem in a 1977 plebiscite. The song had been composed by P.D. Mc Cormick in 1878, and only the first and third stanzas are now used. In fact, the other stanzas probably overemphasize the British origins of its people. As a result, the anthem seems to rally around youth, joy, and wealth.

Set in the first person plural, the anthem contains several references to nature (“golden soil,” “girt by sea,” “boundless plains”), but also reflects a desire to be inclusive of new immigrants. The speaker is “we,” is “young and free,” and talks about sharing and uniting (“plains to share,” “let us all combine”). The line “Beneath our radiant southern cross” refers to the uniqueness of the constellation (nature) as well as to the flag, which adds a tone of citizenship.

It is interesting that by selecting those stanzas from the original song, the Australians managed to make it all inclusive and accepting, discarding the parts that made it still very British.

Great Britain

Currently God Save the Queen, the British anthem was never made official, but dates from 1740 or earlier. There are other songs also known as the English, Welsh, and Scottish national anthems.

Of course, the song is centered around royalty, and the speaker in the first person plural, therefore the people under the Queen. It gives power to two entities, God and under it, the Queen. God is invoked to “Scatter thine enemies,” suggesting that God and country are the same, and that revolution should definitely be prevented by an act of God (“Confound their politics”). Overall, the anthem reflects the desire of the singers to delegate all powers to God and the Queen.

Ireland

A Soldier’s Song was not widely known until the Easter rising of 1916 and soon became the anthem of the new republic. As it name implies, it speaks of fighting and resistance, using the first person plural. “Soldiers are we,” it begins, “whose lives are pledged to Ireland:” it is a song of sacrifice in the name of the country. It is interesting to notice that with words such as “Impatient for the coming fight” and “We’re children of a fighting race” the Irish (of the now republic) rally themselves around the cry for war against “the Saxon foe.” To a newborn, a newcomer, or an immigrant, one wonders how this song could help them like the country rather than the fight.

Japan

The Japanese use the lyrics from a 10^th century poem called Kimigayo (“The Emperor’s Reign”) for their national anthem. A tanka (5 lines, 31 syllables), it can be translated as a wish the reign of the emperor may last forever as it takes time for pebbles to grow into rocks and cover with moss. The simplicity of it is striking, there is no call for fighting, submission, or patriotism: only this wish and the concept of pebbles representing this time in eternity.

France

The well-known La Marseillaise is a song of the revolution. It is not only a call to arms against the royal army, it also describes the consequences of letting the royalty be the masters. Unlike the newer Irish anthem, it does not call for fighting an invader, but for saving its citizens from slavery. It also calls for fairness in combat when the soldiers could be granted mercy (as they were conscripts). In the spirit of the revolution, it does not mention God or ancestry, only citizens determined to fight for their land and freedom.

Conclusion

Far from implying that national anthems can reveal cultural differences, it is interesting to see how each nation can use the national song as its representative in and out of the country. In this set of anthems, all except for Japan use the first person plural, as a song that must be sung by a comunity. Some words can move the hearts of citizens, but sometimes not too many are needed. The best examples seem to be when the citizens can decide what their country represents, put that into poetry and song, and pass it on to the next generations. Then it is up to the people to decide how much repetition, how much pounding of the anthem they want to impose on others, because they should allow the future generations to think for themselves what they want it to be.

Works Consulted

Government of Canada, National Anthem: O Canada, http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/anthem_e.cfm, September 22, 2003.

Japanorama.com, Kimigayo, Japan's National Anthem, http://www.japanorama.com/kimigayo.html, September 22, 2003.

P. Kearney, The Irish National Anthem, http://www.iol.ie/~dluby/anthem.htm, September 22, 2003.

F.S. Key, “Defence of Fort McHenry,” in The Norton Anthology of Poetry, New York: W.W. Norton, 1996, p. 765.

Know-britain.com, National Anthem, God Save the Queen, http://www.know-britain.com/songs/national_anthem.html, September 22, 2003.

P.D. McCormick, Advance Australia Fair, http://www.hamilton.net.au/advance.html, September 22, 2003.

Office of the French President, “The Marseillaise” in Official Website of the Office of the French President - The institutions, http://www.elysee.fr/ang/instit/symb1_.htm, September 22, 2003.

Whitehouse.gov, United States of America National Anthem, http://www.whitehouse.gov/national-anthem/usa-full.html, September 22, 2003.

Advance Australia Fair (Australia)

A Soldier's Song (Ireland)

Soldiers are we,
whose lives are pledged to Ireland
Some have come from a land beyond the wave,
Some to be free,
no more our ancient sireland
Shall shelter the despot or the slave;
tonight we man the Bearna Baoghal
In Erin's cause.
come woe or weal;
'Mid cannon's roar and rifle's peal
We'll chant a soldier's song.

We'll sing a song, a soldier's song
With cheering, rousing chorus
As round our blazing fires we thong,
The starry heavens o'er us;
Impatient for the coming fight,
And as we wait the mornings light
here in the silence of the night
We'll sing a soldier's song

CHORUS

In valley green or towering crag
Our fathers fought before us,
And conquered 'neath the same old flag
That's floating o'er us,
We're children of a fighting race
That never yet has known disgrace,
And as we march the foe to face,
We'll sing a soldier's song

CHORUS

Sons of the Gael! Men of the Pale!
The Long watched day is breaking;
The serried ranks of Innisfail
Shall set the tyrant quaking.
Our camp fires now are burning low;
See in the east a silvery glow,
Out yonder waits the saxon foe,
So sing a soldier's song.

Kimigayo (Japan)

Kimi ga yo wa
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni
Sazareishi no
Iwao to nari te
Koke no musu made.

poetic translation by B.H. Chamberlain is:

Ten thousand years of happy reign be thine:
Rule on, my lord, till what are pebbles now
By ages united to mighty rocks shall grow
Whose venerable sides the moss doth line.

May the reign of the Emperor continue for a thousand, nay, eight thousand generations and for the eternity that it takes for small pebbles to grow into a great rock and become covered with moss.

O Canada! (Canada)

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Translation from the French version:

O Canada! Land of our forefathers
Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers.
As in thy arm ready to wield the sword,
So also is it ready to carry the cross.
Thy history is an epic of the most brilliant exploits.

And thy valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights
Will protect our homes and our rights.

La Marseillaise (France)

Arise you children of our motherland,
Oh now is here our glorious day !
Over us the bloodstained banner
Of tyranny holds sway !
Of tyranny holds sway !
Oh, do you hear there in our fields
The roar of those fierce fighting men ?
Who came right here into our midst
To slaughter sons, wives and kin.

To arms, oh citizens !
Form up in serried ranks !
March on, march on !
And drench our fields
With their tainted blood !

Supreme devotion to our Motherland,
Guides and sustains avenging hands.
Liberty, oh dearest Liberty,
Come fight with your shielding bands,
Come fight with your shielding bands !
Beneath our banner come, oh Victory,
Run at your soul-stirring cry.
Oh come, come see your foes now die,
Witness your pride and our glory.

Into the fight we too shall enter,
When our fathers are dead and gone,
We shall find their bones laid down to rest,
With the fame of their glories won,
With the fame of their glories won !
Oh, to survive them care we not,
Glad are we to share their grave,
Great honor is to be our lot
To follow or to venge our brave.

Supreme devotion to our Motherland,
Guides and sustains avenging hands.
Liberty, oh dearest Liberty,
Come fight with your shielding bands,
Come fight with your shielding bands !
Beneath our banner come, oh Victory,
Run at your soul-stirring cry.
Oh come, come see your foes now die,
Witness your pride and our glory.

Into the fight we too shall enter,
When our fathers are dead and gone,
We shall find their bones laid down to rest,
With the fame of their glories won,
With the fame of their glories won !
Oh, to survive them care we not,
Glad are we to share their grave,
Great honour is to be our lot
To follow or to venge our brave.

God Save the Queen (United Kingdom)

God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter thine enemies,
And make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen.