"Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies"

Reflecting on a National Anthem in the Cheney Palouse

All photos photos on this page are of the Cheney Palouse.
Photos by Bill Youngs

In my United States history class a few days ago I described the dramatic origins of "The Star-Spangled Banner." During the War of 1812 lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key was confined on a British ship that was bombarding Fort McHenry, outside Baltimore. As bombs and rockets literally burst through the night, there was no guarantee that the flag would last for long: only a few days before the British had marched through Washington, D.C. Watching anxiously, Key  jotted down the notes for for the song that became the National Anthem. That honor did not come, however  until more than a century later in 1931. In the mean time and to this day other songs, along with "The Star-Spangled Banner" have also struck responsive cords with "We the People."

One of these, "America the Beautiful" or simply "America" was written in 1893 by Katherine Lee Bates, an English Professor at Wellesley College. She had seen much of the country during a recent trip to Colorado, and she is said to have composed "America" while looking over the countryside from Pike's Peak.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Over the years her song has sometimes been promoted as a second National Anthem. This passage from the Wikipedia article on "America the Beautiful" provides a succinct summary of the discussion:

At various times in the more than 100 years that have elapsed since the song was written, particularly during the John F. Kennedy administration, there have been efforts to give "America the Beautiful" legal status either as a national hymn, or as a national anthem equal to, or in place of, "The Star-Spangled Banner," but so far this has not succeeded. Proponents prefer "America the Beautiful" for various reasons, saying it is easier to sing, more melodic, and more adaptable to new orchestrations while still remaining as easily recognizable as "The Star-Spangled Banner." Some prefer "America the Beautiful" over "The Star-Spangled Banner" due to the latter's war-oriented imagery. Others prefer "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the same reason. While that national dichotomy has stymied any effort at changing the tradition of the national anthem, "America the Beautiful" continues to be held in high esteem by a large number of Americans.

Well, "high esteem" expresses my own affection for "America." During 15,000 miles of recent travel by RV and motorcycle, criss-crossing the United States, I have been impressed again and again with the beauty of the country -- to the point sometimes of a lump in the throat. My reaction is emotional as well as cerebral, a powerful sense of beauty as a spiritual force. "America" captures that spirit.  How wonderfully the song shifts in those final lines to the kinship of the people of the land: "Crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea."

So much for words. While walking on a country road in the palouse near my home in Cheney, Washington, I felt that beauty in simple things: thistles beside the road, cultivated fields, groves of trees, farm steeds, a flock of birds, the setting sun and the rising moon. Here is how "America the Beautiful" looked in my neighborhood last Friday evening:

Click here and see more entries on the American Realities blog.
(You know you want to!)

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy this previous post:

-- Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, Resplendent in Greens and Yellows