17 pages • 34 minutes read
Ada LimónA New National Anthem
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: Confessional Poetry
The Confessional movement that began in American poetry in the 1950s and 1960s has had an enormous impact on contemporary American poetry. Confessional poetry, sometimes called Confessionalism, is characterized by first-person perspective exploring deeply personal subject matter. Many Confessional poets use this approach to explore such taboo subjects as sexuality, mental illness, intergenerational trauma, personal history, and radical politics.
Confessional poets employ a wide range of forms. For example, in his poem “Howl,” Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg uses long lines and run-on sentences to capture his raw thoughts and feelings in language:
to recreate the syntax and measure of poor human prose and stand before you speechless and intelligent and shaking with shame, rejected yet confessing out the soul to conform to the rhythm of thought in his naked and endless head… (Line 75).
Sylvia Plath, another famous Confessional poet, often used loose rhymes to an almost singsong effect. Her poem “Daddy” addresses her father directly, ending with a scathing declaration and a strange image: “There’s a stake in your fat black heart / And the villagers never liked you” (Lines 76-77). Robert Lowell’s poetry tended to be more narrative. In “Skunk Hour,” the speaker wanders a Maine fishing village and frankly reflects: “My mind’s not right” (Line 30).
Such open and honest writing in the public sphere was culturally groundbreaking, and the political backlash had serious consequences for a number of Confessional poets. For example, Ginsberg’s unabashed portrayal of love and sex between men in “Howl” made him the target of a 1957 obscenity trial.
Because so much Confessional poetry is autobiographical in nature, the speaker of the poem and the poet are generally assumed to be one and the same. On this subject, Limón says, “we come from a place where we have to protect ourselves to a certain extent, so it’s sometimes safer for a poet or an artist to say the speaker… And then later on you’re like, ‘okay, it was me’” (“Life of a Poet: Ada Limón.” Uploaded by Library of Congress, 29 May 2019). Most of Limón’s poems are autobiographical, such as her singing the national anthem in school in “A New National Anthem.”
Historical Context: The National Anthem of the United States
“The Star-Spangled Banner” is the official national anthem of the United States. Francis Scott Key originally penned the lyrics in his poem, “Defence of Fort M'Henry” (1814). Key was inspired to write his poem after witnessing the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. From September 12 to September 15, 1814, American troops fought off British invaders on land and sea. On the morning of September 14, Key saw the United States flag still flying over the bombed fort, signaling victory for the Americans. Key recounts the joyful moment of discovery in his poem:
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave (Lines 7-8)?
A local printer published the poem first as a standalone broadside on September 17, 1814. Two local Baltimore newspapers, the Baltimore Patriot and The American, published the poem in their September 20 issues. Both papers included a note instructing the poem to be sung to the melody of “The Anacreontic Song,” the anthem of the Anacreontic Society of amateur musicians in London, England. The popular poem spread quickly, appearing in 17 other papers across the country. Carrs Music Store of Baltimore published the first sheet music pairing the lyrics with its intended melody, renaming the song “The Star-Spangled Banner” in the process. President Herbert Hoover signed a resolution declaring “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official national anthem of the United States on March 3, 1931. (Clague, Mark and Broek, Jamie. “Banner moments: the national anthem in American life.” Deep Blue, 2014).
In “A New National Anthem,” the speaker critiques “The Star-Spangled Banner” for being “too high for most of us” (Line 3) to sing comfortably. The tune Key borrowed for his poem was originally written for professional soloists. The speaker of Limón’s poem remembers singing the song once at her high school’s homecoming game and throwing “even the tenacious high school band off key” (Line 7).
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By Ada Limón
