I am an experienced poet and a poetry teacher. However, there is a small but definite challenge that poets face on the basis of which most poets refrain from naming their work: the title. They spend hours perfecting their images and lines, but the moment they have to choose a title for the poem, they go numb. The title plays an important role in poetry, but its significance is often highly underrated by those who do not write poetry.
Why titles are so hard
The title of a poem carries a lot of responsibility. It sets the stage for the poem, gives hints and suggestions, and provides a means of entry into the poem, all in a few words, without being overly suggestive and at the same time without saying nothing at all. Titling a poem poorly may result in an unjust portrayal of the poem, perhaps by limiting its scope and depth, or even by misunderstanding it completely. This is the burden poets carry when it comes to titling a poem.
Then there is always the dilemma that the title must sometimes reflect a suggestion made by the poem rather than what the poem says explicitly. On one hand, making an explicit connection seems to reveal more than the poem actually contains; on the other hand, remaining vague will deprive the reader of a point of reference. This conflict between revealing too much and revealing too little is real and difficult to reconcile, which explains why poets can agonize over titles for longer than their poems.
The blank space at the top
Many poets find that the open area where the title should be placed is, itself, another type of empty page that can paralyze one completely. It is difficult to give up and move on when the completed poem sits there without a title, feeling that everything is never quite enough to put your name upon. Yet this is not about having no ideas, but too much pressure to choose something perfect. One method to get beyond the immobilization is to create a list of titles from which one can respond and, hence, release the tension of staring at an empty page. A free poem title generator can offer that pool of starting options, and the poet’s real work becomes choosing, refining, and reshaping them into a title that fits, rather than conjuring one from intimidating silence.
Generate, then choose with the poet’s ear
That which applies to titling is also applicable when naming any form of creativity. The first step involves generating a wide range of names indiscriminately such that there are lots of choices for the brain to work on. This will be followed by using the ear of the poet and select using discernment, whereby each name will be tested within the context of the poem. The problem occurs if one tries to do both at the same time and judges each name as it arises.
No computer-generated title is ever the final solution, but rather is a possible suggestion that is manipulated by the poet. This may prove correct, inspire an even better title, or transform the poet into creating something he/she would not have thought of without it. The important aspect here is that it opens up the way from the dead end of blankness to inspiration. What is most important is the fact that ultimately it is the poet’s ear that decides on a title.
Letting the poem keep its mystery
Titles that work for me do not explain the poems but rather provide an entrance into the poem and leave open enough mystery to make one want to read the poem again and again. Developing a sense of what constitutes a good title requires time and practice on the part of the writer, something that even the best software will not be able to provide. However, what the software does give the paralyzed poet are choices, choices that the writer then must choose from.
Naming without fear
When the title becomes the obstacle that holds a completed poem back from being shared with the rest of the world, the best solution is simply to brainstorm and listen to your instincts. Many poets I teach use FaddyAI just to break the titling paralysis, then bring their own ear to the final choice, which is exactly the right division of labor.
The title is a seemingly minor detail that can derail a surprisingly large number of poems not because poets have nothing to say, but because the expectation of naming something seems so daunting. The solution to this problem is to take the tension out of it, come up with any number of possibilities, and use a poet’s ear to find the right one that both names and enshrouds the poem in mystery. Poems deserve titles, and titles need not keep poems from being discovered by their audiences.
All these years later, there is something that I still find touching about the release of a completed poem to its audience after it has been liberated from the small dictatorship of the perfect title. There are so many poems that never reach an audience due to their authors getting held up on this last step, waiting for the title to be just right before it can be released. The title is important, but it doesn’t trump the importance of actually letting the poem exist out there in the world where it can potentially be read. Think it through, go with your instinct, pick one you like, and get the poem out there into the world.