A. He reflects back and describes his initial optimism of the war.
Everyone initially feels that optimism going into a battle. The idea of victory is something easy to see. But it gives the idea that possibly it may not turn out exactly as he hopes in the final sentence.
The allusion means to provide a hint for something indirectly without saying. In the excerpt, Martin Luther King used allusion to appeal to the intellect of his critics.
<h3>What is an allusion?</h3>
An allusion is the figure of speech that is used by writers or speakers when they don't want to directly speak or tell the actual thing, then allusions are used to indirectly point out the thing or covey the message indirectly.
In the given excerpt the King uses the phrase like "king of tension" as the allusion. They are used to set up bonding with the critics on an academic level. This was done to demonstrate them for defending the nonviolent actions by the people.
Therefore, to appeal to his critic's intellects the King uses allusions in the excerpt.
Learn more about the use of allusion by Dr. Martin Luther King', here:
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The answer it the thesis. It explains what the entire essay will be about in one sentence.