What's in a Name?

pconsidine · Sep 27, 2006

Since our moderator brought it up elsewhere, I thought I'd take the initiative and start a thread to discuss the art and craft of titles. Where do they come from? Are they the seed of the idea or the bow on the package? Do you treat them as independent entities or do they fall in line with the rest of the poem?

I have yet to really grasp it, but I don't really like the "Untitled" cop out, so I'm really looking forward to some enlightenment here.

Thanks.

Rivana · Sep 28, 2006

Unless I'm given a title by someone else it's the last thing I come up with for the poem. Usually not until I'm going to publish it in some form.
As for how I come up with a title, well that depends. The usual ways are:

a)Find the hook in the poem and use it as a title, as is or slightly modified.
b)Look at the poem and see what it's saying, what its situation or context is and name accordingly. For exmple; is it a goodbye, does it have a great feeling of anger, is it a story about love? And so on and so forth.

That's how I do it. ^o^

ddgryphon · Sep 28, 2006

It seems my titles come from three basic groups:

Central theme (something culled from the actual writing of the piece)
A fragment of the opening line (A portion that will pull you forward)
The line inspiring or inspired by the poem (More abstract -- sometimes an actual line that became a part of the poem, or a discarded piece of the poem that works outside as a title)

I'm pretty sure that sometimes, the title fairy pays me a visit and well, you just can't count on the title fairy -- but don't be afraid to use what she leaves with you.

veinglory · Sep 28, 2006

I don't give it much thought--generally I pull a line out of the poem. One that is suggestive without giving the whole idea away, or the closing line so they then get to see how I arrived at it.

drachin8 · Sep 28, 2006

Sometimes, I like to find a title that adds another dimension to the piece, as though it were a line itself. This is the method I am probably most fond of. However, not all of my poems are deep enough for this to be suitable, so occasionally I just pull an idea from the piece and paste it to the top. I have found the first method to fall short before as a reader remarked on how they hadn't even noticed the title and thus missed an entire dimension to the poem. Hiding info in the title is still fun, though.

-Michelle

Godfather · Sep 28, 2006

a title is important to me, i never leave anything as untitled.

its part of the poem. when i come up with titles, they normally express everything about the poem.

Billytwice · Sep 28, 2006

I use two titles, a working title which is usually the date and some description of how I first thought of the work, then when it's nearing completion or actually finished, I give some thought to the final title.

kdnxdr · Nov 19, 2006

I have really enjoyed reading all the responses.

I think we all use some of each of these that have been mentioned. I think each piece that we work is unique and the piece itself indicates how best to derive the title.

The poems have a element born out of inspiration, even though we "work at them" and from that inspiration, many titles come of their own free will.

randomaster · Dec 1, 2006

I have had titles that come in each form before.

The random thought train popped out a title, and I wrote a poem to follow that inspiration.

I wrote a random work (probably from an inspiring scene of sorts) and matched it with an appropriate title.

The title was the first line, or words, of the poem.

I searched for a title somewhere along the line that didn't directly relate to the theme/story/idea but could be linked with proper notation through the poem or research into specific backgrounds.

And probably various other situations that I cannot recall at the moment.

Ralyks · Dec 20, 2006

Most often, I use part of a line in the poem.

Stew21 · Dec 20, 2006

KTC said:
I put the title on the top, after I finish writing the poem. The image that stays the clearest to me once I type the last word is usually what I dredge for a title.

This is very much what I do, not just with poetry, but with Fiction titles as well.

What's in a Name?

pconsidine

Too Adorkable for Words

Rivana

Walks in the shades.

ddgryphon

King of Sloth Town

veinglory

volitare nequeo

drachin8

post-apocalyptic bunny

Godfather

back door man

Billytwice

kdnxdr

One of the most important people in the world

randomaster

Ralyks

Untold stories inside

Stew21