[R. S. Gwynn]

Looking at the titles of the poems posted now in Metrical Poetry, only a couple inspire me to read the poem. Have we ever had a discussion of the do's and don't's of titling poems?

[Susan McLean]

Sam, are you talking about the actual titles of the poems or the placeholder titles that appear on the thread's front page? A lot of poets have started using placeholder titles to make it harder for bots to get hold of the actual titles.

Susan

[Jim Moonan]

.
—But good question in any event, Sam. I will in fact skip over a poem (not here, but elsewhere) if the title doesn't attract me.
As for thread titles being different from the poem titles for purposes of alluding bots, I’d love to know if anyone has ever had an issue in that regard.

I love titles.
.

[Michael Cantor]

I have the same reaction as Jim regarding eluding bots. Has anybody actually had a problem with this, or is it a horror story invented to scare the children? I feel that the title is an important part of the poem, and to ignore it because you heard from somebody who had it on good authority from somebody else that there were stealth devices searching our poem names so that we could never, ever publish in Poetry takes away from the poem.

Has anybody actually encountered this personally?

[W T Clark]

I'm struggling to understand how it "takes away from the poem". The thread title will not bear the poem's title; but if you click on the thread and move to the poem's body, you will learn the "actual" title. Nothing in that scenario seems to have been taken from the poem; maybe some aesthetic pleasure has been taken away from viewing a forum page, at the worst.

[Jesse Anger]

Titles are important, very important even. That said, in the context of the sphere there is no way to know if the title fits the piece because you can't see both the title and poem at once via the current interface. You may see a title like: hallucinatory serengeti, and then click it to find a bland poem abt first love. Or a worn title, like fall leaves, and yet, because of the poem it works perfectly.

And yeah, bots are a thing, but if a journal passes on your piece because it appeared here fuck them anyway...

J

[W T Clark]

Originally Posted by Jesse Anger

And yeah, bots are a thing, but if a journal passes on your piece because it appeared here fuck them anyway...

J

"Amen" to that.

On titles more generally, the greatest poet to write titles seems to me Wallace Stevens, whose titles are poems in themselves: "A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts" "Tea at the Palaz of Hoon" "The Emperor of Ice-cream". But again one of the greatest poets, Emily Dickinson, saw no need for them. If the first line is strong, it can itself be title enough.

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

I wouldn't suppose Emily Dickinson was doing anything other than following the custom of her day. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been led to believe that titles were rather uncommon in American poetry from 1880 to 1930. Millay only rarely gave her poems titles at least.

Duncan

[Max Goodman]

A poem can't be harmed by a thread title that doesn't match, but a boring thread title can discourage potential critters from clicking through to find the poem.

Let's agree to disagree about the wisdom of trying to evade bots this way and focus on Sam's question (about which I don't have much to say but am eager for others' thoughts).

Are there do's and don'ts of poem titling? I would think that what Stevens (already mentioned) so successfully do'd in titling his poems one had better don't in titling most anyone else's.

Do be interesting. [not very helpful]

[Roger Slater]

Is it the function of a title to inspire people to read the poem? I guess it would be nice to have a title that does just that, but there are plenty of wonderful poems with titles that are merely serviceable, or that perhaps take on a certain resonance and deeper meaning only after you've read the poem. But I don't think people read, say, "Ode to a Nightingale" or "The Darkling Thrush" because they are intrigued by the idea of a poet writing about a bird.

Maybe titles are like imagined rock bands. Almost any phrase will do.