An Examination of Titling Mechanism and its Aesthetic Functions in Classical and Contemporary Poetry

The title of a poem is its ID and plays a significant role in its interpretation, and is thus considered to be of primary importance by critics and other commentators alike. The objective of this study is to investigate how poems have been titled in classical and contemporary literature. The titles of classical poems are far different from those of contemporary poems. In the past, it was not customary to pay any heed to titling of poems. Nevertheless, from amongst classical types, odes have been more commonly titled. In classical poetry, factors such as rhyming words and letters, the content, readers, the beginning line, the central word were taken into consideration when titling a poem. With the advent of press industry in contemporary culture and the emergence of modern poetry –Sher-e Now—it became customary and in modern genres, a necessity, to title the poem. Today, the title is part and parcel of the poem and plays a significant role in the establishment of mood, meaning, and the poet's thoughts. The title can reveal the poet's creativity, mentality, sexuality and his/her preoccupations, and can inform the symbolic structure of the poem. The title, thus, is supposed to be foregrounded in the explication of the poem, but till date, justice has not been done to this point.