The Writing of America the Beautiful
“Oh beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountains majesty, Above the fruited plain! âÂ?¦America, America, God shed his grace on thee.”
The song America the Beautiful is one of the most beloved songs about America. Many people pushed in 1926 for it to become our country’s national anthem. Instead, the older and more established Star Spangled Banner was chosen. On March 31, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill making the Star Spangled Banner the national anthem. Even today, however, America the Beautiful is beloved as at least an anthem about America. Many even today would prefer it to be our country’s national song. Some consider the song to be the second national anthem.
In fact, several times since the song was written there have been attempts, particularly when John Kennedy was president, to give the song legal recognition, as a national hymn, as a second national anthem, or to replace the Star Spangled Banner. Some have said America the Beautiful is easier to sing. Others say it is more adaptable to new orchestra presentations. Some say it is more melodic. Some prefer the song because it does not have the wartime imagery of the other song.
Did you ever wonder what prompted Katharine Lee Bates to write the famous song?
When she wrote the words to the poem that would become such a famous song, Miss Bates, a professor at Wellesley College, had no idea her poem would become so famous. Such just knew she was struck by the beauty she saw on top of the world famous mountain, Pikes Peak, at 14,110 feet, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Miss Bates had been lecturing at Colorado College, in Colorado Springs, before joining an expedition to the summit of the mountain-in a prairie wagon. She later wrote that during the expedition she noticed a “sea-like expanse.”
Miss Bates had several things that inspired here to write the song, in addition to the view from Pikes Peak. She was inspired by the view of the beautiful mountains, the majestic Great Plains she saw from the top of Pikes Peak, the wheat fields of Kansas, and the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the “White City,” the promise of the future in the alabaster buildings.
She wrote the first version of the poem, which later became the beloved song, and it was published in the Congregationalist, a weekly journal, on July 4, 1895.
Miss Bates rewrote some sections of the poem, and a second version was published on November 19, 1904, in the Boston Evening Transcript. She was intensely criticized for what some thought was an overuse of the word “beautiful,” with some calling it hackneyed. Remembering the beauty she saw from the top of Pikes Peak, Miss Bates refused to change the words. After the poem was published in 1904, part of the third stanza was changed, but the poem has stayed the same since.
As famous as the poem, which later became such a beloved hymn, became, Miss Bates received only a small payment when the poem was published in the Congregationalist, with no additional compensation.
A contest was held in 1926 by the National Federation of Music Clubs to put the poem to music, but none of the entries was deemed to fit the poem. The song is currently to Samuel A Ward’s Materna.
Miss Bates may have not been paid much for her poem, but she did live until 1929 and saw her poem grow greatly in popularity. Ward, however, died in 1903 and never knew how popular his tune would become.
The most popular version of America the Beautiful in modern times was one by the late Ray Charles. Elvis Presley also had a popular version. Charles’ version is often played at major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl.
The song may not be the national anthem, but it will no doubt forever be loved. Millions of patriotic Americans will no doubt always be grateful it was written.
