Poetry FAQ: A Young Poet's Guide To Poetry and Poetry Writing

Invite Readers into Your Poem
with a Great Title

By Janet Paszkowski

The title of your poem is like an invitation to a party. And though it's acceptable for a poem not to have a title, when you take the time to create a great title, it invites readers to take the time to read your poem - to come to your party!

But a great title needs to tell the reader what type of "party" you've created. Is your poem formal or casual? Does your poem need a simple invitation like "Come visit"? Or does your poem's title need to be more like an engraved invitation to a wedding or memorial service?

Great titles also come in many shapes and sizes. Some titles are single words; some are complete sentences or prepositional, participial or infinitive phrases. Sometimes a poem's title requires a reader to read the entire poem to fully understand, but great titles avoid baffling the reader on purpose, and great titles are never clichéd or dull.

Some examples

Consider the titles of these poems:

The Bean Eaters, by Gwendolyn Brooks
My Father in the Night Commanding Me, by Louis Simpson
Maybe Dats Your Pwoblem Too, by Jim Hall
Even as I Hold You, by Alice Walker
To My Dear and Loving Husband, by Anne Bradstreet
The Red Wheelbarrow, by William Carlos Williams.
Winter Retreat: Homage to Martin Luther King, Jr., by Rodney Jones
The Book, by Miller Williams
The Traveling Onion, by Naomi Shibab Nye
One Perfect Rose, by Dorothy Parker
r-p-o-o-h-e-s-s-a-g-r, by E.E.Cummings

For each poem, does the title:

- suggest a casual or formal poem?
- suggest whether the poem may have a serious or a playful tone?
- suggest a specific theme, like death or romance?
- appear to be an invitation written to a single person?
- appear to be historical tributes?
- appear to give at least one specific clue about what the poem will be about?

What about the title of your poem? Does it:

- reveal the subject of your poem?
- contain a specific image or detail?
- use as few words as possible to invite the reader in?
- fit the poem's emotional tone?
- match the formal or informal style of the poem?

Of course, creating a great title for your poem doesn't automatically mean that you've created a good poem...and every good poem doesn't necessarily have a great title. The best way to ensure your poem's "greatness" it to make every word count, from the title to the last line. Don't forget...your title is also the first line of your poem.

Janet Paszkowski is a freelance fiction writer, poet and visual artist. A graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her fiction and poetry have received regional and national awards, and have appeared in literary and mainstream markets. URL: http://www.writers.net/writers/40817