Warning!! by a Longfellow..

     
         
               This poem, by Henry Longfellow, uses the story of Samson from the Bible to describe slavery in early America. The first few paragraphs of his poem, old Henry explains the story of Samson found in the book of Judges. Samson grew up to be a man with unusual strength given to him by God for a certain purpose - to bring down the enemy of Israel at that time. But Samson had a weakness and eventually it led to his imprisonment and finally his death. In Longfellow's last paragraph, he uses Samson's predicament to explain how the black slaves before the civil war were treated and how they felt. When he states "There is a poor, blind Samson in this land, Shorn of his strength and bound in bonds of steel," he is referring to this.