Summary and Theme

Writing a summary or theme is an art. It is the art of compressing a composition. Through the summary writing, we intend to retell the whole story in short. Through theme writing, we talk about the topic or subject of our writing.

At the HSC level, we have both summary and theme writing. For summary writing, there is no instruction for word limitation. But it should be kept in mind that a good summary should be one-third of the passage you will generally come across in the exam. But keep in mind that a summary does not have any fixed length. You have to present the key points.  

The writing theme of a poem should not exceed 50 words. Your summary of a book of 400 pages can be written in 4 pages. But the theme of a book of 400 pages cannot take 4 pages. Rather, it can be written in 4 lines. For writing a better summary, the following tips should be followed strictly. 

• Read the passage or poem again and again and try to understand the real meaning. 
• Summary should be written in prose form.
• It consists of one paragraph. There cannot be any fixed length of the summary but essential points are presented. 
• Try to trace the keywords, arguments, topics, or key points.
• Make an outline of the text or passage.
• Take help from the outline to summarize the passage.
• Use your own words and avoid technical words to present the concept.
• Use understandable English but you need to check punctuation, spelling mistakes, and other grammatical errors.
• Use a third-person point of view because a summary has to be objective.
• Avoid direct speech. 
• Avoid any kind of example, details, quotation, exclamation, and interrogatives.
• Sequential form should be maintained in summary. Follow the organization of the passage you are summarizing.
• Colloquial expressions need to be avoided in a summary.
• Try to use single words in the place of long phrases and replace full clauses with participle clauses.
• Try to use synonyms.
• Continuous practice and better control over vocabulary help to make a better summary.   

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Look at the poem below and see how the poem has been summarized:

Summary: The schoolboy, who is the speaker, is seen enjoying the time in his own way--listening to distant huntsman and birds he sings with. However, he complains that his joys disappear when he goes to school because of the constraints of education and classroom where he is to fall prey to the cruel oversight of the teachers. He feels that he is in a cage and spends his time in sighing and dismay. He says that nothing good can be expected from a child who is to lose his youthful enthusiasm and playful activity necessary for joyful growth. 

This summary has followed the outline of the poem. The first stanza talks about how the schoolboy loves to spend his time. The next three stanzas describe why and how his joys disappear. Through the last two stanzas, the speaker says that this joyless life cannot bring something good from him. 

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Theme: The main theme of the poem is the oppression educational institutions bring for the children by avoiding youthful enthusiasm and playful activity. Moreover, this oppression is also brought by his parents who force him to go to school.  

Questions and Answers:

1. What is a summary?

Answer: A summary is a short representation of a bigger piece of writing.

2. What is a theme?

Answer: A theme tells you the topic or subject of writing.

3. What is the topic or subject of the poem "The School Boy"?

Answer: The oppression of the parents and the school towards the boy. 

 

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