The phrase "an earlier theme" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when referring to a topic or idea that was previously discussed or introduced in a text or conversation.
Example: "In this chapter, we will revisit an earlier theme that highlights the importance of community engagement."
Alternatives: "a previous theme" or "a prior theme".
Foreplay continues an earlier theme, in his play Oxygen, which described the role of women in the history of science through the prickly personality of chemist Madame Lavoisier.
So, reprising an earlier theme, can I ask for your suggestions as to a more ominous phrase in football then "a draw will suffice for Italy"?
Seth nodded and returned to an earlier theme of his -- the idea that cartooning is something the artist gets "tricked" into.
Then, he expanded on an earlier theme in his talk, about how he had grown up poor in Georgia and said that had had an impact on his inclination not to ask questions.
She returns to an earlier theme: the strange matter of how the phrase "The Queen Herod of Literature" came to be emblazoned across the covers of her books, accompanied by the name Gore Vidal.
Gurung returned to an earlier theme with Khaling: You mentioned the year 1950 and the gradual awakening of Nepali artists.
This time, Democrats said, Mr. Bush appears to have settled again on an early theme.
Malcolm Turnbull is set to expand on an early theme of his prime ministership by unveiling an "innovation" package believed to be worth more than $1bn over four years.
Continuing an early theme of the general election campaign that he regards the entire city as up for grabs, Mr. Bloomberg also visited another traditionally Democratic neighborhood, greeting shoppers at the Fulton Mall in Downtown Brooklyn.
Ms. Franklin may forever be associated with the 1960s, when she sang at civil rights rallies and gave the women's liberation movement an early theme song with "Respect".
An individual's need to stand up to convention was an early theme, as in "The Romantic Egoists" (1954); guilt-driven self-destruction was another, as in "The Great World and Timothy Colt" (1956), the first of many novels about upper-crust lawyers.
