National anthem of Canada

National anthem of Canada

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all of us command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

 

In the line from O Canada —

“True patriot love in all of us command”

—the grammar is somewhat old-fashioned and poetic. In modern English word order, it would be:

“Command true patriot love in all of us.”

Here, the subject of the verb “command” is “O Canada” (that is, Canada itself), which is being directly addressed throughout the anthem.

So the meaning is:

“May Canada inspire or evoke true patriotic love in all of us.”

In this context, command means:

• to inspire,
• to call forth,
• or to demand naturally through respect and loyalty.

The sentence structure is poetic inversion, which is common in anthems and older poetry. Normally we would say:

• “O Canada commands true patriot love in all of us.”