September 26, 2005

"Perseverance gains its meed, and patience wins the race" is a theme in the poem, Bruce and the Spider by Bernard Barton. In the poem, Bruce of Scotland is trying to win freedom from England. Back in his hut, he watched a spider build its web. The spider tried and tried again to fling a line to a chosen beam until it succeeded. Because the spider was patient and persevering, Bruce learned to be persistent in these three quotes in the poem.

"And well the insect's toilsome lot taught Scotland's future king" is an example of why Bruce should have patience and perseverance to gain the autonomy from England. This example is located in the third verse. At this point, Bruce wants to give up trying to win independence from England. Then he noticed a spider that was being patient and persevering in building its...