I finally understand why Emily Dickinson hardly ever created titles for her works. All too often, a title can make or break a poem. With my recent train of works I've noticed that most of my poem titles fall into one of four categories.
1. Narrative titles- these include the names of characters, actions, or a synopsis of the actions, not unlike the title of a book
2. Single words- these are some of my favorites. They are short, succinct, and offer a great deal of nuance, especially if the connection between the piece and its single word title isn't immediately obvious
3. Line titles- this is my default method. If I can't think of any decent titles I just use a line from within the poem that I like
4. Nonsense titles- random rhythmic phrases, made-up words, complete chaos, numbers
Let's face it, very few people just sit down with a collection of poems and read straight through. That's why poem titles are so important. As you peruse the table of contents or flip through the pages, a good title can draw you to a piece of interest. However, if you have a great title but it doesn't quite fit the poem, literary dissonance will fly in the face of your reader. So, how do you ensure you have a fitting title? Well, there's no clear cut way for me. I used to come up with a title first and then let that guide my writing. Now, with my daily challenges, I find it much easier to just write a piece and tack on a title later.
In my experience, narrative titles are always the most attractive. It can explain a poem's meaning, setting, characters, etc. allowing you to jump right in media res. Single word titles are the easiest to produce, but often the least interesting. The key is finding the balance.
Anyway, I bring all this up because about a month ago I thought I'd experiment with titles a bit. I produced a series of poems where the titles themselves formed their own separate poem. I also made this piece:
You know I’ve always wanted to write a poem whose title was like much longer than the actual poem but I was never sure what I’d say in that title so I’ve been putting it off until now so I guess I gotta think of an extra-long title and oh hey you know what I think this will do.
Your name makes all the difference
It is the arch above and stone beneath
The heat and cold of the faucet
Your name makes all the difference
in the order of noiseless things
It has become a favorite at readings but I realized that after reading it a dozen times it was starting to get dry. In order to further emphasize the importance of the title over the text, I decided that for every printing and every reading I'd change the actual verse. The poem has been random and avant-garde, formal and dramatic, plain and confessional, and even in Latin!
It's a fun little exercise, and it offers me an opportunity to improvise in a generally scripted performance.
So, what's your opinion on the importance of poem titles? What are some of your favorites or least favorites?
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