The Warning by Henry Longfellow

Henry Longfellow makes several clear references to the book of Judges in his famous poem, The Warning. The main point the poem made was that people were underestimating the appalling nature of the approaching Civil War that would divide the nation. The book of Judges ends with Samson revenging himself against the Philistines, who have taken him slave, by using his super human strength to destroy the pillars holding the temple up which caused the whole structure to collapse. Longfellow shows he feared that a civil war would have the same affect in that no one would come out a true victor and every would be harmed. His fears proved to be somewhat true when the North finally won the civil war but at an unbelievably high cost. Henry Longfellow did an impressive job of not only warning people about the dangers of war but also using alliteration to give his poem a much greater value.