What is the title of the poem by Francis Scott Key that became the United States national anthem?

The Star-Spangled Banner is the title of Francis Scott Key’s poem that became the United States national anthem.

Key wrote the poem in 1814 after watching the American defense of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. He had boarded a British vessel to negotiate the release of American prisoners and witnessed the bombardment from offshore. At dawn, he saw a large American flag still flying over the fort and began writing verses about the sight.

The poem was set to the melody of a popular English song called “The Anacreontic Song.” It circulated under several names before “The Star-Spangled Banner” became established. The song’s difficult range has made it challenging for singers, but its performance at public ceremonies became increasingly common during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Congress designated it the national anthem on March 3, 1931, and President Herbert Hoover signed the legislation. The original flag that inspired Key is preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.