First, in ancient Greece and Rome, there were fairy tales and the legend of heroes, such as Homer's epic.
Secondly, in the Middle Ages, mythical epics were still the mainstream, such as Beowulf in Britain and Song of Nibelungen in Germany.
There are also knight novels and religious literary works, the most famous of which is Divine Comedy.
Third, during the Renaissance, more people described the love and hate of human beings, represented by Shakespeare.
Fourth, the themes of the classical period and the enlightenment period are similar. These two main tasks are to oppose feudalism, publicize the rational spirit of the bourgeoisie and call for the establishment of a rational society of "equality, freedom and fraternity". Although the ideological content of enlightenment literature has been obviously strengthened, it has also damaged the main feature of literature-image, which has the disadvantage of art with more thoughts than images to some extent. For example, Moliere's hypocrite and Rousseau's Confessions.
Fifth, The Romantic Period, works with the theme of love and various feelings have occupied the mainstream, such as Notre Dame.
Sixth, critical realism, the theme is mainly social contradictions, represented by Dickens' Oliver Twist.
Seven, modern works, it should be said that there are various themes. Recently, magic, suspense, love, war and other literary works have shined brilliantly, and it can be said that the themes are all-encompassing. Representative works include The Lord of the Rings, Agatha's detective stories (of course Sherlock Holmes has existed since the so-called critical realism period), All Peace on the Western Front and so on.