This tutorial focuses on common themes in literature, beginning with a slide show discussing 11 different, common themes and literary examples. This is followed by a 11-minute YouTube video with students acting out common themes in...

A slide show with forty slides with explanations, examples, and information on how to determine the theme of a text. RL.9-10.2 and RL.11-12.2 Analyzing Theme.

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] This lesson is about themes, the central messages in literature. Whatever their genre might be, writers have some wisdom, some universal truth or insight to share; this...

Take a look at popular literary themes that are reflected in the political cartoons of 1896, the year in which William Jennings Bryant challenged William McKinley for the presidency.

This slideshow tutorial focuses on theme. It defines the term and then explains each of 10 common themes in literature and provides examples: good vs. evil, the journey, coming of age, the role of fate, sacrifice, overcoming adversity,...

This is an introduction to the literary theme of appearance vs. reality using Hamlet, a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It features a list of key terms including literary devices and dramatic terms; essential questions including how the...

Determining the theme is not easy; you have to use the clues the author leaves to figure it out yourself. The author implies information about the story through plot points, setting, and characters. You infer and draw conclusions based...

Read about the 1958 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960 CE), a writer who was honored for "his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian...

This site provides guidance in creating literature circles based on cross-curricular themes that will help to improve literacy. The site emphasizes both theory and practice, with lots of practical suggestions.

This five day theme unit for the Gingerbread Man is full of great ideas. It is suitable for children in preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary. From Language Arts to Math, this site has it all!

Literary analysis of themes typically found in the work of Charles Dickens considers questions of poverty and wealth, crime and punishment, industrialization, childhood, caricature, and similar concepts of interest to readers of...

This site lists and discusses the themes in Animal Farm by George Orwell. These include power through leadership and corruption, control over intellectually inferior, pride, lies and deceit, and more.

From the the concept of madness, to lies and deceit in Hamlet this site provides an interesting analysis of the various themes in the play.

This introduction to contemporary drama focuses on the elements or characteristics of drama and the theme of the American Dream. It features the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, which is set in the 1950s.

[Free Registration/Login Required] This ReadWorks Unit engages students in a deep study of Madeleine L'Engle's science fiction work, A Wrinkle in Time. Students will investigate the following topics: the book's theme, the science fiction...

Created in association with the Masterpiece Theatre film version of "A Death in the Family," this teacher's guide provides materials for the study of the film or the book. Students will study the life and work of James Agee, determine...

A slideshow with ten slides that discusses the difference between a subject and a theme and gives several examples of each found within a variety of popular classical and modern texts.

[Free Registration/Login Required] A site with links to 29 worksheets that can be downloaded and printed for student use while building skills with standard RL.4.9: Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g.,...

The Faust theme, that of risking eternal damnation by selling one's soul to the devil in exchange for magical powers, can be found in virtually every genre of music as well as in literature and the visual arts. Examples utilizing this...

These animated shorts introduce or review literary elements and techniques like theme, setting, figurative language, characterization, and conflict. They can be used when students are just learning how to identify the most commonly used...

Multiple themes are found in The Great Gatsby. This site looks at these themes and provides interesting insights about each.

The theme of love is discussed in this site along with a series of questions related to this topic.

The Scarlet Letter is full of important themes that are discussed in detail in this informative site.

Dan Pagis experienced the horrors of the Holocaust as a young child and only addresses the trauma he experienced through poetry. In the poem "Written in Pencil in a Sealed Freightcar" he uses Genesis and the murder of Abel by Cain as a...