Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Patriotic Writing Prompts for Flag Day

HEALING FIELD 2
©
Sarah Walker | Dreamstime.com


Today we celebrate flag day today in the United States.  Please read all the verses to The Star Spangled Banner below and you'll find the writing prompts below the poem.

The Star Spangled Banner


Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


"The Star-Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key. Public domain.

For your writing prompts today, I am going to use phrases from the song that you can complete any way you would like as a free-write.  Try free-writing for 5 minutes.  After that, you can decide if you would like to take the next step and develop your writing into an essay, a poem or story.

1.  Through the mists of the deep. . .
2.  The morning's first beam. . .
3.  Praise the Power that has made. . .
4.  We must conquer. . .

Fun Write Prompt:  We have flags for countries and states.  Design a flag for your city, community or family.  What should it look like?  What symbols can you use that represent what is important to this group?  Write it out and/or draw a picture.




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