09-27-2026, 10:46 PM
"I find coming up with a good title to be the hardest part of the writing process."
Not all poems need titles. If a poem's self explanatory a title merely gives the game away in advance, which may weaken the reader's involvement or enjoyment (not all good poems are _enjoyable_). I know lots of pundits insist on titles, but I suspect that's mainly because it makes sorting competition entries easier. Just like poems themselves, if titles don't occur to me spontaneously I don't force them (but I practically never enter competitions - to me poetry is not an Olympic sport but a vocation). Personally I think this would work just the same without a title.
Not all poems need titles. If a poem's self explanatory a title merely gives the game away in advance, which may weaken the reader's involvement or enjoyment (not all good poems are _enjoyable_). I know lots of pundits insist on titles, but I suspect that's mainly because it makes sorting competition entries easier. Just like poems themselves, if titles don't occur to me spontaneously I don't force them (but I practically never enter competitions - to me poetry is not an Olympic sport but a vocation). Personally I think this would work just the same without a title.
"Whenever you see reference to a new paradigm you should always, under all circumstances, take cover" J. K. Galbraith, The Observer, 21 June 1998