What lesson can be learned?
What is Theme?
Webster says that “theme” is….
a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic
What google says “theme” is
The poem's central theme is contained in the subject matter of the poem. In
other words, it is the abstract idea of what the poem is saying about life. A
poem may contain many lessons in it at one time
What Miss Thomas says “theme” is
A broad but recurring idea that can be learned from a story and then applied
to people or life in general that can be inferred.
Common Misconception
Theme vs Subject
The theme of a poem is not it’s subject, but rather it’s
central idea which can be stated directly or indirectly.
So, for example, in the Edgar Allan Poe poem “The
Raven,” the subject is the raven, who continually repeats a
single word in response to the speaker’s questions. The
theme of the poem, however, is the irreversibility of death -the speaker asks the raven, in a variety of ways, whether or
not he will see his dead beloved again, to which the raven
always replies “nevermore.”
Common Themes
Acceptance
Perseverance
Courage
Kindness
Compassion
Cooperation
Honestly
Loyalty
What sub themes can you pull from this list?
Example:
Don’t give up on your
friends.
Perseverance
Never give up during
difficult times.
One bad day doesn’t
mean you have a bad life.
Sometimes you
need to
struggle to
succeed
Do you see how many of these are life lessons? Have you ever seen any of these themes in movies?
Guided Practice
As a group let's pick two themes we haven’t discussed.
On the left side of your notebook choose one of these
themes, and list possible sub themes that could
go with it in your group!
(Reference what we just did with perseverance).
REMEMBER: THEME IS NOT CLICHES OR THE
SUBJECT!
Acceptance
Courage
Perseverance
Cooperation
Compassion
Honesty
Kindness
Loyalty
Where can we find theme?
Movies
Commercials
Books
Poems
Short Stories
ETC...
On the left side of your notebook please write the following as we follow along with the commercial
1.
2.
3.
What is the main idea?
What is the theme (one word)?
What is the sub theme (remember this is broad and can be applied to your life)?
Acceptance
Courage
Perseverance
Cooperation
Compassion
Honesty
Kindness
Loyalty
Commercials
Novels
Poetry
Now it is your turn…
We began analyzing “Oranges” by Gary Soto, and all determined a
theme.
But…. now we understand theme on a deeper level, so we must revisit.
Please
1. Take out the poem
2. Take out your poem analysis Sheet
3. Rethink your theme… please assign a broad theme and a sub theme.
4. You will pull 3 pieces of text evidence from the poem to show how the
author portrayed the theme that you choose. (remember there can be more than one theme in a poem)
5. You will then fill in the Theme analysis sheet found on your google drive.