Here is a set of posters I've made to help students recognize themes. It includes many recurring literary themes. I also accompanied each word with a symbol to help drive home meanings. My students use this set of posters often as they are searching for great words to describe the theme of a passage or book.
I created this set of posters to help my students realize the common themes among books. Theme can be a difficult, abstract concept to grasp, and I've found that these posters help students communicate a book's theme more readily. Oftentimes, the theme of a book can encompass many of these ideas, but these words act as a springboard for brainstorming themes!
Get a FREE download of my Literary Themes Posters! It is a google.doc in PDF format.