WRITER

Francis Scott Key

1779 - 1843

Photo of Francis Scott Key

Icon of person Francis Scott Key

Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779 – January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland, best known as the author of the text of the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". Key observed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 during the War of 1812. He was inspired upon seeing the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn and wrote the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry"; it was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song "To Anacreon in Heaven". Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Francis Scott Key has received more than 2,924,490 page views. His biography is available in 31 different languages on Wikipedia. Francis Scott Key is the 3,805th most popular writer (down from 3,407th in 2019), the 4,868th most popular biography from United States (down from 4,489th in 2019) and the 404th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.9M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 50.82

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 31

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.10

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.67

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

This Side of Paradise
Fiction, Young men, World War, 1914-1918
The debut of an American original. Here is the accomplished first novel that catapulted F. Scott Fitzgerald to literary fame-at the age of 23. It follows the education-intellectual, spiritual, and sexual-of young Amory Blaine.
The beautiful and damned
Fiction, Inheritance and succession, Married people
Short stories
American Short stories, English Short stories, Fiction
The Last Tycoon
Fiction, Facsimiles, Motion picture industry
Fitzgerald’s last, unfinished novel tells of the rise to fame and power of a Hollywood film producer. The protagonist is believed to be based on the life and career of real-life producer Irving Thalberg.
The Great Gatsby
Modern fiction, Traffic accidents, First loves
Here is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate – a marvelous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period – which reveals a hero like no other – one who could live at no other time and in no other place. But he will live as a character, we surmise, as long as the memory of any reader lasts. It is the story of this Jay Gatsby who came so mysteriously to West Egg, of his sumptuous entertainments, and of his love for Daisy Buchanan – a story that ranges from pure lyrical beauty to sheer brutal realism, and is infused with a sense of the strangeness of human circumstance in a heedless universe. It is a magical, living book, blended of irony, romance, and mysticism. --first edition jacket ---------- Also contained in: - [The Fitzgerald Reader](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL468551W/The_Fitzgerald_Reader) - [Three Novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald ](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL468557W)
Tender is the Night
Fiction, Psychiatrists, Wealth

Page views of Francis Scott Keys by language

Over the past year Francis Scott Key has had the most page views in the with 672,976 views, followed by Japanese (14,120), and German (12,846). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Turkish (200.93%), Japanese (194.97%), and English (181.96%)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Francis Scott Key ranks 3,805 out of 7,302Before him are Eric Ambler, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, Teffi, Kočo Racin, François Cavanna, and Torgny Lindgren. After him are Gennadius of Massilia, Alexander Volkov, Jane Wilde, Ramiro de Maeztu, Henry Adams, and Masha Gessen.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1779, Francis Scott Key ranks 26Before him are George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Infanta María Amalia of Spain, Adam Müller, Ali-Morad Khan Zand, Filippo Paulucci, and Jean Coralli. After him are Louis de Freycinet, Augustin Saint-Hilaire, Johann Schweigger, Tabitha Babbitt, Washington Allston, and José Bernardo de Tagle y Portocarrero, 4th Marquess of Torre Tagle. Among people deceased in 1843, Francis Scott Key ranks 23Before him are Jakob Friedrich Fries, Ippolito Rosellini, Miguel Ricardo de Álava, Casimir Delavigne, John Trumbull, and Julius Vincenz von Krombholz. After him are Kazim Rashti, John Biscoe, Hirata Atsutane, Sylvestre François Lacroix, Johann Natterer, and Friedrich von Adelung.

Others Born in 1779

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Others Deceased in 1843

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Francis Scott Key ranks 4,868 out of 20,380Before him are Gregory Itzin (1948), John Stamos (1963), Mark St. John (1956), Frank Gorshin (1933), Maggie Grace (1983), and Bobby Seale (1936). After him are Jenette Goldstein (1960), Edmund Randolph (1753), Kristen Bell (1980), Todd Phillips (1970), Daniel Kirkwood (1814), and Woody Herman (1913).

Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Francis Scott Key ranks 404Before him are John Gray (1951), Hal Clement (1922), Marilyn French (1929), Brandon Sanderson (1975), Gloria Vanderbilt (1924), and Charles Grandison Finney (1792). After him are Henry Adams (1838), David Brin (1950), James Russell Lowell (1819), A. Merritt (1884), Marianne Moore (1887), and Herman Wouk (1915).