Theme Practice

Steps to Figuring Out a Poem’s Theme 1) Read the entire poem and just enjoy it! That’s what poems are for! 2) Circle the title and reread it. Think about why the poem has this title. 3) Reread each line of the poem and as you do… a) Highlight key words. b) Circle words that you don’t understand and think of synonyms to replace the words. c) Summarize parts of the poem. 4) Use your annotations to come up with a theme. What life lesson do we learn from the poem?

The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. 20

What is the theme? Evidence (quote from the text) Explain how this quote proves the theme you chose.

Nothing Gold Can Stay By Robert Frost

Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

What is the theme? Evidence (quote from the text) Explain how this quote proves the theme you chose.

If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking By Emily Dickinson

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.

What is the theme? Evidence (quote from the text) Explain how this quote proves the theme you chose.

Puzzlement By Gwendolyn Brooks

I, partly Nigerian.

I, partly Puerto Rican.

I have a Nigerian father, a Puerto Rican mother.

I am packed in a skin that is tan.

I, too, have a heart on fire.

I, too, want to be Proud.

I, too, want to be Something and Proud.

I want to shout “I’m A TAN!”

What is the theme? Evidence (quote from the text) Explain how this quote proves the theme you chose.

*When you are finished, submit this assignment into Canvas.