From: user3274@newsgrouper.org.invalid   
      
   "J. Corey Connor"  posted:   
   > George J. Dance wrote:   
   >   
   > > A mistake that poets often make is to use the last line of a poem as its   
   title. (I just read another of those tonight; I won't name it, because it   
   doesn't matter whose poem it was.)   
   > >   
   > > It's easy enough to make that mistake. A poet ends a poem with a very   
   powerful line. Because it's the best line in the poem, he decides to use it as   
   the title, on the idea that the most powerful line will attract the most   
   readers.   
   > >   
   > > Why is it a mistake? Because a line is more powerful if one is reading or   
   hearing it for the first time, and less powerful if one has read or heard it   
   before. Every time a line is reused, it loses power;.if a reader already knows   
   that line, he does    
   not have to concentrate on it but can simply skim through it. (A skilled poet   
   learns to work around that, in poems where fixed lines are obligatory such as   
   the triolet or villanelle), by subtly changing the lines themselves, or using   
   the lines    
   surrounding them to change the meaning of otherwise identical lines.)   
   > >   
   > > So: the poet has ended his poem with a powerful line. But he then robs the   
   line of at least some, and possibly of all, of its power. Rather than reading   
   that last line closely, and thinking "A-ha" or "Oh, wow", a reader will skim   
   it and think "Oh,    
   yeah" or "Sure"; which is a much worse way to end the poem.   
   >   
   > Here’s a guide that may help. Titling Poems:   
   > https://annieneugebauer.com/2014/04/21/titling-poems/   
      
   Good find, Corey, wherever you are.   
      
   --   
   Poetry and songs of Will Dockery:   
   https://www.reverbnation.com/willdockery   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)