1

"The Star-Spangled Banner" the 4th stanza

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry 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!

Why is the verb "rescue" in the ed-form? (simple past or past participle?)

Why not "may sb do sth", like "may God bless you"?

By the way, "the land" is shortened to "land" for the sake of rhythm, no?

Edit: 1 I mistook "Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land / Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! " as two separate sentences, just because it is divided into two lines.

2 If there were a hyphen between "Heaven" and "land", I would have viewed "the Heaven-rescued land" as a whole. The text in Wikipedia doesn't have.

Improve this question
3
  • 3
    It's May the Heaven-rescued land (blessed with victory and peace) praise the Power that has made and preserved us as a nation! Does that help?
    – user3395
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 12:55
  • 1
    By the way, no. "Land" has a "the" here. The noun phrase (in modern orthography) is "the Heaven-rescued land". That's the subject of a clause which does use a "may somebody do something" pattern. Much like "may God bless this land", this is "may this land praise God".
    – Gary Botnovcan
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 14:14
  • @userr2684291 You completely solved my problem, see my edit.
    – Zhang Jian
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 15:08

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10

May a flea-bitten dog be your best friend.

A dog bitten by fleas.

the Heav'n-rescued land

The land rescued by Heaven.

rescued is the past-participle there.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .