America the Beautiful

Unlike some other patriotic songs, “America the Beautiful” does not simply glorify the country. To be clear, most of the song does offer a utopian vision of America, but the way Bates uses the past, present, and future and the way she uses God lead to a unique entry in the nationalistic genre.

Her glorification of America is rooted in its beauty, not in its uniqueness among nations or in its principles and historical impact. This makes sense considering Bates wrote the poem after being inspired by the nature she saw on a cross-country train trip to Colorado. The epic scale of America’s natural landscape is amplified when traveling through it on a slow train. As a passenger, Bates was able to take in the wonder of the land without rushing, and when she finally arrived in Colorado Springs, a city at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, she had a whole year to immerse herself in nature. It’s no wonder the first line is about the open skies of America, as Colorado enjoys more sunny days per year than any other state in the country. Almost the entirety of the first stanza is dedicated to the beauty of Colorado Springs and the view atop Pikes Peak, a 14,000-foot mountain and the crown jewel of the city.

Bates starts with the sky that seems to go on forever, and this sky reminds her of the vast fields of grain she saw in Kansas on her way to Colorado (Kansas borders Colorado). At the border of the Rockies in Colorado Springs, Gates was inspired by the mountains that guard the city—a line of rugged, jagged peaks that shine under the constant sunlight of the city. Atop the mountain, she looked out and could see for miles to the east. She gazed out to the plains of eastern Colorado that extend beyond the state’s borders all the way to the rolling hills of Iowa.

It’s difficult to describe this beauty without actually seeing it, so it is worth looking at some pictures from the mountain to get a sense of the scale (Google Earth actually has a street view from the summit of Pikes Peak where you can look out from the mountain with a 360 degree view).

In this first stanza, Bates uses alliteration, archaic phrasing, perfect rhymes, and vivid colors to illustrate the grandeur of the scenery. These elements contribute to this stanza’s power.

Interestingly, nowhere else in the song does Bates describe the natural environment. Instead, she turns her attention to the idea of America and its values. The chorus section, specifically, deals with the soul of America. Each verse that begins with “America! America!” is a different variation of the same choral structure with a perfect iambic rhythm, repetition of the first line, and a two-part structure where the first part invokes God and the second part calls upon the country to rise to God’s standard. The first choral verse asks God to grace the country and asks the country to “crown” (Line 7) the good of its natural beauty with the good of man. The second choral verse asks God to heal the country’s flaws then asks the country to define itself by the concept of liberty. The third choral verse asks for God to purify the riches of the country and asks for all the success of people in the country to be noble and divine. Finally, the last choral verse repeats the first one, reinforcing the message that America calls upon God for grace while also striving to live up to His standards.

Strewn between these choral verses are verses that pay homage to the country’s origins, its heroes, and its future. Verse two uses the phrase “pilgrim feet” (Line 5) to create a double meaning. The word “pilgrim” invokes images of the first Americans to arrive from Europe, but the word, not capitalized, also refers to a traveler who wanders to a sacred place. The rest of the verse suggests the path these pilgrims took created a road to freedom that conquered the wilderness that was there before. This verse argues that those who sought freedom and liberty paved the history of America.

Verse four also pays homage to the past, but this time Bates focuses on those who sacrificed for America to become what it is. She frames these people as martyrs, who valued mercy and liberty more than their own lives and who willingly gave up their lives for the country to survive. She sees the beauty of their sacrifice in the beauty of the land.

Verse six then looks toward the future with glowing cities cloaked in white like a vision of heaven. Gates wrote the line “Thine alabaster cities gleam” (Line 23) while traveling through Chicago, a city that by that time was fully electrified. She sees the potential for people to match the beauty of the natural world, and she sees the progress of the country’s innovation as an antidote for pain and suffering.

While all of this may seem like patriotic chest bumping and the kind of glorification of country that one might see during an Independence Day celebration, it’s important to remember how Bates is phrasing all of this. One only has to look at the first stanza to realize this is not a proclamation so much as it’s an invocation. Bates is not saying America already has achieved all this greatness; she is saying America has the potential to achieve these things, but she is asking for protection and help. She is praying to God for the protection and guidance the country needs. The line is not, “God has shed His grace on thee;” it’s, “God shed His grace on thee.” The use of this perspective in the choral verses mixes with the glorification of the past in the other verses. Bates believes America was founded on the values she espouses, but the choral verses show she does not think the country has perfected them.

This is clearest in the third stanza when she asks God to “mend thine ev’ry flaw” (Line 10). The idea here is that a true patriot is willing to admit where the country has fallen short while seeking the help and guidance to fix those problems. As a reformer and social activist, it makes sense that Bates’s song is more than just nationalistic propaganda; she is dedicated to fixing the ugly aspects of the country so it can become as beautiful as its natural landscape.