How to Title a Poem
Quick answer: How to title a poem: use the title to add information the poem needs, not to repeat it. Seven title strategies poets actually use, with examples.
Title a poem by giving the reader something the poem itself does not say: the setting, the occasion, the addressee, or the key that makes the images make sense. A good title is the poem's first line of work, not its label. The weakest titles simply repeat the subject ('Love', 'Loss', 'The Ocean'), which wastes the one guaranteed moment of the reader's full attention.
Poets often treat the title as an afterthought, added in the thirty seconds before submitting. Editors and judges read it first, though, and it frames everything after. It deserves the same number of drafts as any stanza. The strategies below cover most of the titles you will ever need.
Make the title do a job
Think of the title as free real estate outside the poem. It can carry information that would be clumsy inside the lines: a date, a place, a name, a situation. 'Poem' plus a dedication tells us who is being addressed. A title like 'After the Diagnosis' lets the poem itself stay entirely in images, because the title has already supplied the circumstance. If your poem needs a stage direction, put it in the title and keep the poem clean.
Seven strategies that work
Try each of these against your draft and see which one changes how the poem reads.
Titles to avoid
Single abstract nouns are the most common miss: 'Hope', 'Memories', 'Pain'. They promise nothing and prime the reader for cliche. Also be wary of titles that give away the ending, and of quoting your own best line as the title, since it will feel secondhand when the reader reaches it. A quick test: imagine your title in a contest longlist among fifty others. If it could sit above any poem ever written, it is not doing its job. First impressions carry weight when a judge is reading hundreds of entries in a month.
What poets can take from this
- Draft five titles for every poem and choose the one that adds the most information.
- Never title a poem with a lone abstract noun.
- Check the title against the ending: it should not spoil the turn.
- Use the title for context (place, date, addressee) so the poem can stay in images.
- Read title and first line together aloud; they should feel like a handshake, not an echo.
Try it yourself
Write a short poem that never names its subject, then write a title that supplies the missing key. The poem should be a riddle without the title and obvious with it.
Questions
Can a poem's title be a full sentence?
Yes. Long sentence titles set a conversational or wry register before the poem begins. They work best when the poem itself is compressed, so the title and body balance each other.
Should I capitalise every word in a poem title?
Standard title case (main words capitalised) is the safe convention for submissions. Some poets use lowercase for tonal effect, which is fine once it is clearly a choice, not a typo.
Is it okay to title a poem 'Untitled'?
It is allowed but rarely wise. To an editor it reads as a decision not made. If the poem truly resists naming, use its first line as the title instead.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
Enter a Writory poetry contest
Enter the September contest and have your own poem read and scored. That first entry makes you a Writorian.