Best Title

[annaswirls]

There are many writers that have the knack for writing killer titles. I know there have been threads about this before.

Post your favorite titles here and throw flowers....



flowers and links optional

 

[annaswirls]

To Borrow a Supernova
To Be An Envelope....

Liar​

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[annaswirls]

The Stylization of Self.... Lauren Hynde​

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[Liar]

Why thanks, anna.



Here are some of my favs:

Blame the Birds for Horizons - jthserra
The Origin Of Hurricanes and Stretching Of A Questionmark - linbido
I am not my fathers Oldsmobile - smithpeter

 

[Tzara]

foehn:

Cat Notices the Sky’s Throat​

 

[Senna Jawa]

The most poetic music composer, Frédéric François Chopin, didn't want any titles to his works; all titles were imposed on him. This should make us think.

The most important thing to know about titles is:

• whether we like it or not the title (if any) is an integral part of the poem--for good and for bad;
• the laws of the poetry apply to the title just as to any other part of the poem.

It follows that a title

• should not be a summary of the poem;
• should not be used as a device which helps to explain the poem;
• should stay away from any teaching/preaching, abstractions, grand pronouncements, scientific sounding statements, ...

Karma Dog used to be the thread giver on this forum. In particular his thread about the titles of the new poems showing on Literotica was among the most popular, it was fun. His responses to the titles were just his personal reactions, he treated them as a pretext to his funny comments.

 

[Liar]

Titles are also very dependant on the media in which they appear.

If it's a poem in a printed book, it just sits there, above the body of the poem, as a part of it. And all the points above apply. There is however not much that stops you from reading the rest of the poem after reading the title.

A title for a poem in a hyperlinked media (namely the internet) has a double purpose. It needs to work well with the poem (all of the above), and must also be able to stand on it's own, to pique the interrest of potential readers and say that 'here be interresting poem if you bother to click'. Two often contradicting puposes, and tricky business to get right.

The ones I mentioned, I think does both pretty well. They are interresting enough on their own to make me want to read the poem, and they are part of the poems as well, adding dimensions and perspectives to them. I get more out of them with than without title.

Some make a lot more sense with title, and quite little without, like 23,485,933. . . 23,485,934. . . by Reltne.

 

[Senna Jawa]

A title for a poem in a hyperlinked media (namely the internet) has a double purpose.

That's why on a number of occasions I made them different--one thing is the title of the POST, and another of the POEM.

 

[Senna Jawa]

The ones I mentioned, I think does both pretty well.

Sure, while each of them has a serious artistic drawback.

Titles are difficult to come up with. I know a great poet, who hardly ever gives a title to the poem just for this reason.

 

[Liar]

Titles are difficult to come up with. I know a great poet, who hardly ever gives a title to the poem just for this reason.

Sometimes, "untitled" is the best title that you can get away with on sites like these where one is mantatory, I guess.

Now, let's get this thread back to it's original intent. Since those I mentioned have 'serious artistic drawback'... got any examples of well titled poems to share?

 

[Senna Jawa]

Sometimes, "untitled" is the best title that you can get away with on sites like these where one is mantatory, I guess.

Then you get a bunch of poems with the same title "untitled", and it's difficult to find a poem. The date of writing the poem may serve as a component of the title of the post (not of the poem). This + author's nickname on a public forum, where there are many authors. This is what I practise.

Also, the first line or a fraction of the first line in brackets may also serve as a substitute for the title. I avoid giving too much text in such a "title" because I want to preserve freshness of reading the poem, which would be adversely affected by an uncalled for repetition. Occasionally, I provide the first line from its middle, so that it starts with "...", like this [..****] ot even [..****...] instead of [xyz] for the full 1st line, or [xyz...] for the beginning of the 1st line).

Now, let's get this thread back to it's original intent. Since those I mentioned have 'serious artistic drawback'... got any examples of well titled poems to share?

Do you mean by me? (That would be easy, except that I say very little about my writing, I feel awkward). When it comes to titles by others I'll have to do some work.

The great majority of the titles are not meant to be truly the part of the artistic effort, they are provided just for the purpose of indexing. Plain titles are fine, better than the pretentious ones.

Earlier I mentioned that the title should not be this or that. I did a bit of overstating. What I meant was that the true title should be an integral part of the poem, and it should obey the laws of poetry. It's ok if it does some other things as well. Everything we do in a poem does something else as well. The point is that something else cannot serve as a justification for an element of the poem. Each of them should carry poetry.

Off hand let me mention Baczynski's erotic "White magic", where the title harmonizes with the rest of the text. Perhaps it is not a great title but it's good. It's peaceful, while a bit teasing (by a contrast to the "Black magic").



White magic

standing in front of the mirror of silence
with hands at her hair, Barbara
pours into her glass body
silver drops of voice.
​

etc.

K.K.Baczynski


Regards,

 

[Senna Jawa]

got any examples of well titled poems to share?

Since I have a bunch of them I was taking great titles for granted. To my surprise it's far from it. There are many good titles, many fancy titles, ... not that many great ones.

I checked Boleslaw Lesmian, Sure enough, he has several wonderful, one-word titles but they are part of his genius and they are not translatable. Indeed, they are his unique neologisms, which sound so natural, so much a part of the (Polish) language, even of the old Polish language. And inside of his poems this device is especially powerful. (I even have a hard time to call his neologisms as such).

Good titles often have a geographic location or something of a similar specific ring to it. For instance "a week with elephant" would be a good title, poetic, while "the next door elephant", while humorous, would be already "clever", hence poetically in not so good taste, not so poetic.

***

Here is a great title of a great poem, from an outstanding Internet poet, LeeAnn Heringer. You may find this poem on Internet. Here is the title:

where God sits
at the end of the day
​

***

Regards,

 

[Liar]

Here is a great title of a great poem, from an outstanding Internet poet, LeeAnn Heringer. You may find this poem on Internet. Here is the title:

where God sits
at the end of the day
​

***

Can't find that one. Got a link?

(I find many other of her poems though. I've read some of her stuff before. Indeed very good. I suggest anyone to Google her name and check her out.)

 

[Guest]

Can't find that one. Got a link?

(I find many other of her poems though. I've read some of her stuff before. Indeed very good. I suggest anyone to Google her name and check her out.)

Don't tell me Senna's getting sloppy as well as Eve? I don't know what this place is becoming?

(BTW - senna is a laxative, think about it.)

 

[Senna Jawa]

Got a link?

where God... (@ r.a.p.)​

or

where... (r.a.p. again, the same)​

or even

where... (@ p.h.p.)​

Remark -- This poem was included in LeeAnn's collection "Picture Postcards", published (two editions) by ASGP. The published version uses the upper case consistently for all geographic names (it's just a detail).

***

Great title, great poem, great harmony of the title+poem.

 

[Liar]

Ah, didn't consider newsgroups. Thnx.