THEMES IN POETRY
We write or talk to people when we want to convey a
message. In the same breath, poets also write poems majorly to share with their
readers the message they have. The message also known as theme refers to the
main idea, purpose or concern in a poem or any work of art. This theme or
message can take the form of a true-life experience, an observation, an idea or
even a feeling.
It is not always that poets write from their imagination,
rather they are inspired by the events in their environment, the daily normal
occurrences that take place in the communities they reside. Therefore, it is
normal to have a poem talking about corruption as a vice in our country, love,
immorality etc. since poetry and literature generally mirror society.
A poem can have more than one message or theme, for
the reader to identify a theme in a given poem, they need to ask themselves
what is the main concern of the poet. This is achieved by looking at all the
ideas presented in the poem. We use nouns and noun phrases to state the theme of
a poem or any other form of literature.
There are two types of themes in literature. The
main/major theme(s) and the minor theme(s). The dominant theme /message in the
poem or any other work of literature is the one referred to as the main/major
theme. The main theme is widely developed within the poem or any work one is
reading, on the other hand, the minor theme is less developed in the poem.
Most of the themes are not directly stated but are
implied. When a theme is implied, the reader must figure out what the theme is
by looking carefully at what the poem or work reveals about people or life.
To Illustrate
The Man He Killed
"Had he and I but met
By
some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right
many a nipperkin!
"But
ranged as infantry,
And
staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And
killed him in his place.
"I
shot him dead because —
Because
he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's
clear enough; although
"He
thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand
like — just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No
other reason why.
"Yes;
quaint and curious war is!
You
shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or
help to half-a-crown."
By Thomas Hardy
(The Man He Killed, Hardy,
1910” By Thomas Hardy – Time’s Laughingstocks and Other Verses, (Public Domain))
In the poem “The Man He Killed” a man kills
another man on the battlefield. But, if they met in a bar, they could have been
friends. The theme of the poem can be thus interpreted as the futility
of war.
Ways in which themes are tested.
v Highlight
the main themes /thematic concerns.
v Identify
the main message in the poem.
v What
are the main concerns addressed in the poem?
We state the themes using nouns and mostly we use abstract
nouns such as love, suffering and injustice.
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