question on the purely poetic

[HotKittySpank]

topic of titles... more than a few threads on this...

i know that talk of 'proper' is sometimes silly but i do want to know if what i am doing is frowned upon - or cringed at.

many of the things i've written include the title in the poem - now, i have noticed that most folks tend to pull a new set of words together for a title and place it above their piece - as a heading. as this is the 'proper' way, i was wondering if, when i bold the title in the piece and leave it at that... is it ok that i do that?

don't want to enrage the powers that be by ignorantly bucking tradition, manipulating the medium to my own pleasure but trampling the proper in the process and thereby making a fool of myself or seemingly belittling the entire art form in said ignorance. mouthful much? ; )

thanks in advance for any replies... --j

 

[champagne1982]

topic of titles... more than a few threads on this...

i know that talk of 'proper' is sometimes silly but i do want to know if what i am doing is frowned upon - or cringed at.

many of the things i've written include the title in the poem - now, i have noticed that most folks tend to pull a new set of words together for a title and place it above their piece - as a heading. as this is the 'proper' way, i was wondering if, when i bold the title in the piece and leave it at that... is it ok that i do that?

don't want to enrage the powers that be by ignorantly bucking tradition, manipulating the medium to my own pleasure but trampling the proper in the process and thereby making a fool of myself or seemingly belittling the entire art form in said ignorance. mouthful much? ; )

thanks in advance for any replies... --j

The beauty of modern poetry, is that it is today and the rules are being written as we make them. Title your poetry any way you want to.

If you're posting it on lit, you'll have to give it some kind of indexing, maybe a number or a letter?

 

[Guest]

i was wondering if, when i bold the title in the piece and leave it at that... is it ok that i do that?

I think that's quirky and progressive way to title. I like it. I'd say do what you want and like Carrie mentioned, you have to do something different when you submitt your poem to Literotica. For poems that are posted in the forum threads, I'd wonder seeing the bold in your poems, but would figure it was your title...eventually. I'm a bit thick.

 

[Tzara]

topic of titles... more than a few threads on this...

i know that talk of 'proper' is sometimes silly but i do want to know if what i am doing is frowned upon - or cringed at.

I don't think there is really any concept of "proper" in poetry. There are no real rules, unless you're claiming to write in a particular form, and even those tend to get bent over time--just compare one of Ted Berrigan's sonnets to one of Shakespeare's.

Now "frowned upon - or cringed at" is something else again, but that would only be in the eyes and opinions of individual readers. Unless you are writing to please the judgment of someone in particular (a journal editor, say, or a creative writing instructor), then your best bet is probably to trust your own instincts.

many of the things i've written include the title in the poem - now, i have noticed that most folks tend to pull a new set of words together for a title and place it above their piece - as a heading. as this is the 'proper' way, i was wondering if, when i bold the title in the piece and leave it at that... is it ok that i do that?

There isn't really any "proper" way to title a poem. Many poems, even ones by famous poets, have no title or only a cursory one. Shakespeare's sonnets, for example, are generally simply numbered, and I'm not sure that was his intent or the editors of his work.

Having said that, I would find it odd to have some text in the middle of a poem bolded for no apparent reason (i.e., not as emphasis, which is what boldface font is normally used for). It certainly would not be clear to me that that was intended to be the title of the poem.

What I would probably do is either present the poem with no title at all or, if I felt the words worked well as title, put them at the top of the poem as is the convention. I don't think it matters if the phrase is repeated.

But that's just my opinion.

don't want to enrage the powers that be by ignorantly bucking tradition, manipulating the medium to my own pleasure but trampling the proper in the process and thereby making a fool of myself or seemingly belittling the entire art form in said ignorance. mouthful much? ; )

thanks in advance for any replies... --j

Actually, if I thought something like that would "enrage the powers that be" I might do it just to piss them off. Flaunting convention and compacency has its own attraction.

My advice is, basically, do whatever you think feels right. If, over time, you feel differently, change it.

 

[vampiredust]

There are no rules when it comes to titles. Everyone has their own way of doing it.

 

[Liar]

There's no proper or improper way to write, format or title poems as long as they're decodeable. Meaning that I, the reader, understand what it is I'm looking at - a title, a poem body, or both at the same time.

The media in which you publish a poem might have conventions to follow. Like here on Lit, where first of all you have to have a title, and one that is of a certain max length (can't remember how long), at that. That kind of put a dint on my creative margins sometimes, as I often wouldn't want a title at all. And even "Untitled" is a title.

 

[champagne1982]

<snip> I'd wonder seeing the bold in your poems, but would figure it was your title...eventually. I'm a bit thick.

Yeah, but you're still Daddy ga-ga.

 

[unapologetic]

As for how it's done here - the people that have spoken before me would be better authorities. As for how I do it - my titles tend to be explanatory/framing notes. As an example, my poem about Elizabeth Bishop's poetry doesn't mention her name or the titles of any of her works in the body, so I titled it Elizabeth.

 

[HotKittySpank]

thank you
thank you
thank you

: )

you guys always make me feel better about what i'm doing. i was aware that my 'bolding' the title within the piece is unconventional and pulls the eye to the bolded words first. that is what made me think this would be a good way to title things but, yes it could be distracting as you are reading through, top to bottom.

perhaps it is a passing phase that i will eventually grow out of. (like colored text and odd character sizes... but then i do like to play.)

thanks again to all. ya'll are wonderful teachers.