The Star-Spangled Banner's third verse

The third verse is expressing this sentiment: "neither a hired hitman or a person forced into attacking us will win. They will both meet a gloomy end while the banner continues to wave triumphantly over any and all who oppose".

Its a very grim reminder of the horrors of war. It took a lot to create the nation of America. It was very costly to also bring about the freedom of all people. America set a precedent for the rest of the world to follow.

A good rendition: https://youtu.be/N_lCmBvYMRs

I learned about "the gloom of the grave" from, of all things, Asimov's short story "No Refuge Could Save" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Refuge_Could_Save

> While questioning a suspected German spy, he performed a word association test on him. When Griswold said "terror of flight," the suspect replied, "gloom of the grave." This was evidence that he was a spy who had been trained up in Americanisms, since the two phrases allude to a line in the third verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and no native-born American could possibly be familiar with the third verse of the national anthem ("except for me, and I know everything," added Griswold).

I never put the context together to realize it was talking about threatening to return free people to slavery.

More Wikipedia context about these lines at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner#slave . That page also mentions the NAACP call to remove the national anthem/

Still better than the German national anthem, which is the 3rd verse of a poem whose 1st verse is outlawed as nazi paraphernalia...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschlandlied

"Germany, Germany above all, [...]"

[edit: this is only intended to point this out as a "similar curiosity"; both are quite questionable in current times.]