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The Warning

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Topics: classic

Beware!    The Israelite of old, who tore         The lion in his path,--when, poor and blind,     He saw the blessed light of heaven no more,         Shorn of his noble strength and forced to grind     In prison, and at last led forth to be     A pander to Philistine revelry,--     Upon the pillars of the temple laid         His desperate hands, and in its overthrow     Destroyed himself, and with him those who made         A cruel mockery of his sightless woe;     The poor, blind Slave, the scoff and jest of all,     Expired, and thousands perished in the fall!     There is a poor, blind Samson in this land,         Shorn of his strength and bound in bonds of steel,     Who may, in some grim revel, raise his hand,         And shake the pillars of this Commonweal,     Till the vast Temple of our liberties.     A shapeless mass of wreck and rubbish lies.

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"Beware!    The Israelite of old, who tore..."

This evocative piece by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, titled "The Warning", represents a masterful exploration of classic. The lines capture a profound emotional resonance... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Beware!    The Israelite of old, who tore..." by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

About Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was the most popular American poet of the 19th century. His narrative poems—including "Paul Revere's Ride," "Evangeline," and "The Song of Hiawatha"—made poetry accessible to a mass audience and shaped American cultural identity.

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