4 Fourth Of July Poems That Rhyme

America is pretty awesome, right? We have our flaws like any country, but all of the songs, movies, books, and patriotic poems written about our great nation really show how special it is. And since Fourth of July celebrates the birth of these United States, why not bask in its awesomeness with a few poems about that historic July 4 day?

When it comes to patriotic expression through the written word, I’m more inclined to belt out “Born in the USA” while drinking a beer than reciting poetry. Even as a writer, poetry has never been my jam. But before “The Star-Spangled Banner” and Bill Pullman’s speech from Independence Day became everyone’s fight song, poems about our brand new nation were published in newspapers across the country to celebrate the Fourth of July. Some of America’s most famous writers — from Maya Angelou and Ralph Waldo Emerson to Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes — have put pen to paper to poetically express their feelings toward this country of ours.

So, before we start to stuff our faces with delicious BBQ, enjoy a few brews, and head to the beach, let’s take a moment to celebrate Fourth of July with a few uplifting poems about the greatest nation in the world.

1. "O Flag of our Union" — Author Unknown

O flag of our Union,To you we'll be true,To your red and white stripes,And your stars on the blue;The emblem of freedom,The symbol of right,We children salute you,O flag fair and bright!

2. "The Land of Liberty" — Author Unknown

I love my country's pine-clad hills,Her thousand bright and gushing rills,Her sunshine and her storms;Her rough and rugged rocks, that rearTheir hoary heads high in the airIn wild, fantastic forms.

I love her rivers, deep and wide,Those mighty streams that seaward glideTo seek the ocean's breast;Her smiling fields, her pleasant vales,Her shady dells, her flow'ry dales,The haunts of peaceful rest.

I love her forests, dark and lone,For there the wild bird's merry toneI hear from morn till night;And there are lovelier flowers, I ween,Than e'er in Eastern lands were seen,In varied colors bright.

Her forests and her valleys fair,Her flowers that scent the morning air--All have their charms for me;But more I love my country's name,Those words that echo deathless fame,"The Land of Liberty."

3. "Paul Revere's Ride" — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

So through the night rode Paul Revere;And so through the night went his cry of alarmTo every Middlesex village and farm,—A cry of defiance and not of fear,A voice in the darkness, a knock at the doorAnd a word that shall echo forevermore!For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,Through all our history, to the last,In the hour of darkness and peril and need,The people will waken and listen to hearThe hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

4. "Song of the American Eagle" — Author Unknown

I build my nest on the mountain's crest,Where the wild winds rock my eaglets to rest,Where the lightnings flash, and the thunders crash,And the roaring torrents foam and dash;For my spirit free henceforth shall beA type of the sons of Liberty.

Aloft I fly from my aërie high,Through the vaulted dome of the azure sky;On a sunbeam bright take my airy flight,And float in a flood of liquid light;For I love to play in the noontide ray,And bask in a blaze from the throne of day.

Away I spring with a tireless wing,On a feathery cloud I poise and swing;I dart down the steep where the lightnings leap,And the clear blue canopy swiftly sweep;For, dear to me is the revelryOf a free and fearless Liberty.

I love the land where the mountains stand,Like the watch-towers high of a Patriot band;For I may not bide in my glory and pride,Though the land be never so fair and wide,Where Luxury reigns o'er voluptuous plains,And fetters the free-born soul in chains.

Then give to me in my flights to seeThe land of the pilgrims ever free!And I never will rove from the haunts I loveBut watch, from my sentinel-track above,Your banner free, o'er land and sea,And exult in your glorious Liberty.

O, guard ye well the land where I dwell,Lest to future times the tale I tell,When slow expires in smoldering firesThe goodly heritage of your sires,How Freedom's light rose clear and brightO'er fair Columbia's beacon-hight,Till ye quenched the flame in a starless night.

Then will I tear from your pennon fairThe stars ye have set in triumph there;My olive-branch on the blast I'll launch,The fluttering stripes from the flagstaff wrench,And away I'll flee; for I scorn to seeA craven race in the land of the free!

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