The theme of a poem delivers the reader an underlying message that the writer wishes to convey through their work of poetry.
A poem can contain a single or multiple themes based on the story of the poem that it tells. The theme is an important part of any work of poetry or literature as it provides meaning to the story.
Related: Examples of Meters in Poetry
Follow the below list to learn different type of themes found in poetry or use them as poem theme ideas or topics for your next poetry.
Related: Iambic Tri, Tetra, & Pentameter Examples in Poetry
Poetry Themes Examples
Most of the themes in poetry are often similar to themes of literature but yet some themes fit well only for poetry.
Below are the examples of common themes found in poetry.
#1 Love
#2 War
#3 Death
#4 Nature
#5 Beauty
#6 Aging
#7 Desire
#8 Dreams
#9 Coming of age
#10 Destiny
#11 Depression
#12 Courage
#13 Spirituality
#14 Happiness
#15 God
#16 Friendship
#17 Heartbreak
#18 Imagination
#19 Loss/tragedy
#20 Memories
#21 Mortality
#22 Immortality
#23 Marriage
#24 Rebirth
#25 Seasons
#26 Sexuality
#27 Religion
#28 Secrets
#29 Man and nature
#30 Peace

#31 Pain
#32 Isolation
#33 Eternity
#34 Earth
#35 Emotions
#36 Faith
#37 Fear
#38 Grief
#39 Forgiveness
#40 Hatred
#41 Afterlife
#42 Myth
#43 Art
#44 Anxiety
#45 Defeat
#46 Heaven
#47 Suffering
#48 Joy
#49 Life
#50 Disappointment
#51 Stars
#52 Trust
#53 Gender
#54 History
#55 Identity
#56 Purpose
#57 Regret
#58 Encouraging
#59 Opportunity
#60 Music
#61 Roses
#62 Innocence
#63 Moon
#64 Mountains
#65 Jealousy
#66 Duty and responsibility
#67 Supernatural
#68 Circle of life
#69 Man and masculinity
#70 Sunshine
#71 Change
#72 Flowers
Related: Consonance in Poetry (Examples and Definition)

Examples of Themes in Poetry
Below are examples of themes in poetry from popular poems of all time.
#1 The Waste Land
By T. S Eliot

Major themes- Love, death, rebirth, history, lust/sexuality, water, religion, seasons.
Read the poem here
#2 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost

Major themes- Beauty, man and nature, desire, obligation, secrets, duty and responsibility, isolation.
Read the poem here
#3 Daddy
By Sylvia Plath

Major themes- Death, gender, oppression, power, history, myth, hatred.
Read the poem here
#4 The Raven
By Edgar Allan Poe

Major themes- Death, afterlife, memory, loss, supernatural, grief, madness, despair.
Read the poem here
#5 The Second Coming
By W.B Yeats

Major Themes- Violence, prophecy, meaninglessness, christianity, cyclicality.
Read the poem here
#6 Because I could not Stop for Death
By Emily Dickinson

Major Themes- Life and death, mortality, immortality, eternity.
Read the poem here
#7 The Road not Taken
By Robert Frost

Major Themes- Choices, uncertainty, man and nature, indecision, individualism and nonconformity.
Read the poem here
#8 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
By T.S Eliot

Major themes- Love, anxiety, indecision, alienation, isolation, desire, modernity, disappointment, manipulation, time, aging, appearances.
Read the poem here
#9 If
By Rudyard Kipling

Major Themes- Manhood, courage, man and masculinity, stoicism, defeat.
Read the poem here
#10 Ode to a nightingale
By John keats

Major Themes- Death, immortality, mortality, transience, art, nature, beauty, imagination.
Read the poem here