Lesson 4.2C: Themes in Poetry
 Death and birth, love and hate, despair and joy, faith and disillusionment - poets are notorious for tackling the extremes of life. Topics that are taboo, and topics that reveal humans in their worst and best light appeal to writers because it is in those most intense moments that we can learn the most about our world and ourselves. In fact, every poem has a central idea about life - this is called the theme.
In this lesson you will consider the theme in a number of poems, and then you will be asked to read a longer narrative poem and write about its theme.
Finding Themes
In poetry, as well as in short stories and novels, a theme is the main message of the work. It is not a lesson or a moral but rather a message about life, society, or human nature. Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Themes are usually implied rather than stated out right. A deep theme is not required in literature; however, most readers would argue that all stories inherently have some kind of outlook on life that can be taken as a theme, regardless of whether or not this is the intent of the author.
A theme is not the same as the subject of a work. For example, the subject of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss is "green eggs and ham are well worth eating, no matter the location." The theme might be "have an open mind."
There is no one right way to summarize the theme, or main idea about life, outlined in a poem. Poems require a reader's reaction - and because every person who reads a poem is different, each will have a slightly different take on the poem. This does not mean that you can say anything is the theme of the poem. If a poem's subject is all about slowly nurturing a garden, then you can't say the theme is "life is sometimes like a high-speed car race." The author will leave you plenty of clues in the poem that will help you to find one of many possible accurate themes.
Remember the questions you used to interrogate of a poem? Asking those questions will help you to find the theme. The best way to learn how to find a theme of a poem is to practice.
Journal Entry 4.2B: Why Are We So Lonely?
There are hundreds of pop songs about it and many, many poems about it—Emma LaRocque's poem on page 95 of Sightlines 10 is just one short example. Loneliness. This common human emotion can arise in many situations and for people in many different situations. So why is there so much loneliness in the world? What does loneliness mean to you? Can it ever be positive in any way? How?
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| Discussion Prompt |
| There are many literary poems about loneliness. Do some quick research online and find a poem about loneliness that you would like to share. Determine a theme statement for the poem. |
Guidelines for contribution:
Post the poem and the theme statement that you determined. Discuss why you think it is that loneliness is such a common topic of poetry (refer to your journal entry for ideas). Respond to one other classmate's poem by commenting on why or why not you thought the poem was effective.
Click here to post your entry now. |
Complete Section Assignment 4.2B: Identifying Theme of the assignment template now.
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Summary
Completing this lesson has helped you to:
- understand what a theme is
- read a longer narrative poem
- write about theme in poetry
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