Saving Room for a Title

[Wildcard]

I sometimes forget to title the poem until I am happy with the contents. This has been the cause of a lot of extra time spent on each poem. It's important that I choose a name that doesn't 'give away' the entire poem or spoil any surprises. That being said, I don't want to repeat anything inside the poem either or the first line (Thanks Todd) So for me, quoting is normally out.

How do you choose a title? (and when? before, during or after)

[abu nuwas]

I don't think titles are very important, for me. I do not share Todd's feelings about using the title as part of the piece. I am quite happy that a painting called 'The Fighting Temeraire' should depict a vessel of that name, even if it is at the end of its days; and 'The Wreck of the Hesperus' is a handy mnemonic. However, I would follow Todd in trying to avoid the school-boy's first line, of an essay to be entitled 'What I did on my Holidays', which, for want of greater inspiration, he commences 'What I did on my holidays was...' long, painful pause.

I am a before or after person, usually after, and as an after-thought. Perhaps I should give this some thought.

[billy]

i think titles are important. i also think they should add something to the poem.

i like to finish before i wipe the poem with a title. i think all poems bar haiku etc should be titled.
i prefer to have any poem i put up titled. though like the poem a title can be edited if silly or out of place.
i think a title can be an integral part of a poem or just a guide as to what the poem is about.
for me an untitled poem seems unfinished. jmo

[Leanne]

Titles are almost always the last thing for me, but never an afterthought. Occasionally I'll post something with a working title, but once I settle on a title I'm happy with it becomes a very important part of the poem. I am not entirely opposed to using a word out of the poem, though I very rarely do that.

To choose a title, I generally just let the poem sit for a while in my head and some associated word or phrase will end up fitting properly. And sometimes, I just choose something completely irrelevant to see who's actually reading the poem and who's just basing their "reading" on what they think the title means.

[Wildcard]

Having read all of these posts, I'll have to agree with those who've said the title is very important. I was just thinking that sometimes the title of a poem gives me some expectations about the poem- I'm not always correct though. Sometimes the surprise is a good one, but sometimes it feel less like a surprise and more like a disappointment. So isn't it pretty important as it really is the forerunner and first impression of the poem at the same time?

[Leanne]

I may be somewhat arse backwards (I know, "may"), but I almost always read the poem first -- oh, I might glance at the title in passing, but it never sinks in until I've read the text, then sometimes I'll go back to the title and have that little "aha, that's what it means" moment.

[addy]

Same here. The title should solidly fit in with the poem... shouldn't be random or tacked on, but it doesn't have to steal the show or anything. There are instances where it can be played with to the poem's benefit ("The Two-Headed Calf" is a fine example) but I think on the whole title comes after/ is secondary.

[billy]

i tend to give the title such a cursory glance as to forget what it was.
a few time when the title gives an insight i missed it out of laziness.
but it can be solid or a puzzle to crack, i think it should accompany the poem in some small way at least, otherwise it's a waste of text.

[rayheinrich]

  Wrote this a while back, but since it seems on topic:

   Before the internet I never used a title because it fragmented the poem by 
   dividing it into two parts. It's like having two poems, where one of them 
   must be very short, incapable of complexity; a part so short that it's 
   necessary, for many poems, to make an inaccurate generalization. 
   
   Then came the internet and it was necessary on newsgroups, boards, email, 
   etc. to have something for the damn subject line. (I truly hate the title 
   "untitled" BTW and would never use it.) So... I embraced it.
   
   And immediately the subject/title became a "sales" tool to lure people to 
   read my poems. This wasa bit demeaning, but also a LOT of fun since you could 
   title a poem sarcastically. The title could have nothing to do with the poem, 
   or better, make some ironic comment on it.
   
   There ARE some natural uses for the subject line convention: 
     1. You can use the interval between the reader clicking on the subject/title
        and seeing the body of the poem as a pause. What's particularly effective
        with this pause is that it's FORCED; no way the reader can avoid it!
     2. Haiku! You put the first part in the subject, and the second in the body.
        That existential haiku pause is made flesh!
   
   So... after a few years I began to realize that all my problems with titles 
   came from my own inability to write them. I'd taken years to learn to write 
   the body, but had mistakenly thought I'd learned how to write titles as well. 
   It turned out (at least for me) that writing titles is a very different skill 
   which I hadn't taken the time to learn. It was like learning to write haiku, 
   sonnets, etc. It takes a few years, if ever, to master another form.
   
   The titles I use nowadays are all over the place. Sometimes they sum up the 
   subject/emotion/etc. of the poem. Sometimes they are an ironic comment on 
   the poem. 
   
   But most of the time I make them a necessary part of the poem. They contain 
   information that is not present in the body of the poem; they are necessary 
   to "understand/feel/etc. the poem. 
   
   So, it seems, I've come full circle: This last type of title fulfills all of 
   the criteria for an untitled poem. 
   
   P.S. I commonly use the first line of a poem for the title. What I don't do 
   is repeat it; hate that.

   P.P.S. Bodiless poem:


          < drop that bird in your hand and come over here and kiss me >


                                                - - -

[billy]

excellent post,
i like the idea of using the 1st line of a haiku as the subject line...i can't believe all this time i just write haiku
and pretty much agree with all of the post, i can remember when i first started doing poetry i'd just put it out there.

someone explained their thoughts on the matter to me and it made sense, since then i always try and use a title.

[Wildcard]

Great post, Ray. I never thought about quite like that. A lot of good stuff there.

[Leanne]

I agree with everything, Ray, including and especially the "untitled" issue -- I'd rather just leave a poem title-free entirely than call it "untitled", which to me is pretty much the same as saying "can't be arsed".

I'll occasionally use a title that has nothing much to do with the poem, just to see if people are paying attention No really, the title has the chance to be ironic or throw the poem right into the surreal, it's a fun thing to muck about with and it totally subverts expectations.

[Leanne]

Perhaps I should just reiterate: a poem is not its title. To assume that the title is a complete summation of the poem's contents is to risk missing the point of the poem itself.