Lesson 10 — Activity 3: Thinking About Theme in Poetry, Music, and Movies
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Lesson 10 — Activity 3:
Thinking About
Theme
in
Poetry, Music,
and Movies
Themes can also be found in poetry. A poem’s subject is the topic of the poem, or what the poem is about, while the theme is an idea that the poem expresses about the subject.
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 how death cannot be reversed — 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.”
Click here if you would like to read the entire classic poem, The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe.
As well, theme can be found in music. Click below to listen to a song by Kelly Clarkson. Read the lyrics as you listen to the music and think about the message the artist is trying to convey or the lesson that is to be learned from the song.
The television show, "The Simpsons" created a parody of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven'. Click the link below to see this animation.
Finally, themes can also be found in movies. Click on the link below under "Self-check" to read about some popular movies that have important themes and life lessons for us to learn.