Read these lines from the poem. they refer to the biblical story of samson.

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.

in the bible, samson is dedicated to god, and as a sign of his dedication, his hair is never cut. god gives samson immense physical strength. but samson is tricked into revealing his secret, and evil people shave his head, which makes him lose his strength. the evil people capture him, blind him, and make him a slave. samson asks god to give him strength once more so he can seek revenge on the evil people, and god does. samson destroys their temple, killing many of them, and killing himself in the process. longfellow compares the slaves in america to samson.

how does this allusion express the poem’s meaning?

it cautions that slavery doesn’t just destroy the slave, but also destroys american ideals.

it expresses the belief that slave uprisings might destroy the entire country.

it states that american talk about “liberty” is as meaningless as a destroyed building as long as people still hold slaves.

it celebrates the tremendous political power that newly freed slaves had to vote and change the government.

This allusion expresses the poem's meaning in the following way:

It cautions that slavery doesn’t just destroy the slave, but also destroys American ideals.

Explanation:

The poem and the analysis are focused on slavery. So, if we analyze all off the options the second one says that slaves could destroy the country. But, slaves don' have enough power to destroy the country. Also, there is no certainty that a released slave would kill people it is just a belief. In our case, Samson is a metaphorical figure, not a literal example. The third option is incorrect because slavery is not allowed anymore. the fourth case is incorrect because slaves were not a bigger part of the population to use their vote and change the country. They were almost 5 or 6% of the total population in their last moments of slavery. Therefore option A is correct because it was a metaphor to say that slaves were a big force that destroyed American ideals

this passage has a lot of figurative language like examples are

the day we found the sharks' teeth was foggy and cool.

moisture hung in the air so thick you could almost see it sparkling in the dim sunlight.

figurative language can not be taken seriously it is just sayings.

- "the answers are a and b.  

when cullen speaks of planting while others reap, and standing "abject and mute," he is speaking about the racial injustices present in american society. as these injustices have changed over time, the american identity  has also shifted. those changes are, in turn, reflected in american literature."