When I draft a poem, I write whatever comes to mind, get it down, try not to censor myself. I adore the revision process, which is where I can fine-tune, delete, add, see what form the poem wants to take. And it’s satisfying to come up with a final product that pleases me. But then…it needs a title.
Ugh.
Sometimes a good title comes naturally, but ninety-five percent of the time, coming up with strong title is one of my biggest struggles. In my initial attempts, I have a tendency to go too simple or to go overboard trying to be clever. So today’s post will focus on title-finding advice I have collected over the years from different friends and workshop leaders. (I have no MFA, so if you do, you probably learned a lot of these things in your program.) But everyone can always use reminders, and hopefully something here may be helpful to you.
The Old Stand-Bys
Let’s get these out of the way first, and let’s call them reminders of things we have seen often in poems. But just because they are common options doesn’t mean they can’t be the right option:
The title as label or mini-summary or scene-setter or statement of purpose
A line of direct address (“For…” or “To…”)
Some Other, Less Obvious, Things to Try
Count up five to seven lines from the bottom of your poem (depending on which workshop leader you listen to…) and find your title hiding there. This advice counts on the fact that five to seven lines from the end of your poem is probably where you begin to turn toward a concluding purpose. Many workshop leaders have recommended looking at those lines for a phrase or theme that may work as a title.
Use the thesaurus. After your poem is complete (or as complete as it will be for the moment), identify key words or concepts in the poem, and use a thesaurus to find synonyms that may resonate as titles.
Use the title to reveal a concept that is not directly stated in the poem but significant to its purpose.
Use a map…or a time machine. This advice came from a workshop with Katie Ford on writing a series (or a long poem in parts). Her suggestion was to make each title a very specific place or date that resonated with the truth of the poem. For example, a piece about a relationship that started in your teen years could use the specific street/town name where that relationship started. For example, if the hypothetical poem above was my poem, it could be called “On Elgin Avenue” – the street where I grew up – or “Forest Park: 1976” – my hometown and the year I started high school. I think that the idea is to bring a real specificity of place and time to the piece. (Peter Murphy of Murphy Writing has a similar prompt that asks you to use a map of an unfamiliar place and use some of the landmarks or names in a poem or title.)
Steal (ethically). Use a line from a song or another piece of writing as your title. Be sure, of course, to cite the source of the line. I have written poems titled after lines from Moby Dick, the diaries of Lewis and Clark, and Fall Out Boy lyrics, just to name a few.
If you have any foolproof title tricks, please share them in the comments section – I always appreciate even more ideas to make this part of the process easier.
Some good ideas here; thank you.