Sometimes, it seems like the title is an afterthought or an advertisement to get people to read the poem. A good title is just as much a part of the poem as the poem itself.
“A title is like a light switch in a darkened room.” — David Bosnick
Titles are seen as the first impression that can intrigue without giving too much away, providing context or complicating a poem's meaning. Good titles may conflict with expectations, revise genre conventions, or add a transformative layer that reveals the emotional core. Some use titles to identify form or content, while others see them as anchors, seeds that grow, or weights that accrue meaning after reading the poem itself. The titling process involves considering a poem's goals, finding the right balance between openness and focus, and sometimes revising multiple options before landing on the one that directs readers in the intended way.
10 Ways to Title a Poem
Formal (indicating the poetic form, e.g. "Villanelle After Wittgenstein")
Emblematic (symbolic of a central concept or metaphor, e.g. "Good Bones")
Anaphoric (repeating a line from the poem, e.g. "Nothing Gold Can Stay")
Expository (setting a scene, e.g. "Lying in a Hammock...")
Allusive (referencing another text/artwork, e.g. "Note Blue")
Subversive (defying expectations, e.g. "Come In")
Metapoetic (commenting on poetry itself, e.g. "Words Written Near a Candle")
Perspectival (introducing a persona/viewpoint, e.g. "Mother to Son")
Fugitive (spilling into the first line, e.g. "This Is Just to Say")
Absent (having no title at all)
Formal titles indicate the poetic form, while emblematic titles capture a central metaphor or concept. Anaphoric titles quote from the poem itself, expository titles set a narrative scene, and allusive titles reference other works. Subversive titles defy expectations, metapoetic titles comment on poetry itself, and perspectival titles introduce a viewpoint or persona. Fugitive titles spill over into the first line, while some famous poems have no title at all.
Poets should experiment with different titling strategies, as titles can flicker with meaning and illuminate the many rooms of a poem in diverse ways.
Exercises
Titling ideas/activities to try from The Cincinnati Review essay on craft:
When writing a one- or two-word title, think about the balance and/or tension between closure and open-endedness. Other recent one- and two-word titles from our miCRo series: Detonations, Magnets, Posies, Dodge, Cruising, Chimera, and It Is.
Write a title that mentions a place and subverts its typical associations, like Washington’s.
A longer title usually means more specificity. Write a few different versions of a long title that plays with more and less mystery. How are specificity and mystery a binary, and when do they coexist?
Write several different titles for the same poem and reflect on how they set up the rest of the poem differently.
Compare your title to the last line of your poem. What are the ways that they currently resonate? Try amping up more of the resonance without explicit repetition.