Why didn't Emily name her poems?

Answer 1

Well, this is pure speculation, since she isn't alive to ask... but I would guess that for her, titles were redundant. All the content she wanted to write about was right there, in her poem, and adding a title would unbalance the meter of the whole thing. :) Many poets write poems without titles, and when you refer to those poems, you use the first line as the title. ... Usually the first line makes a good title, but listing it above as the title is a trifle redundant. For other poets, the title adds meaning, or a theme that glues the whole thing together... so they definitely aren't bad, but they aren't always needed either.

Answer 2

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!

They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

~

This poem by Dickinson suggests the answer.

Dickinson was a poet because she was a poet. She riled against letting her poetry pull her into the swamp of public croaking.

Answer 3

Emily did not title her poems. Most poem titles, unless given one by the author, are taken from a line in the poem. Ms. Dickinson chose to let the poem speak for itself. Some of her collections that were found after her death were numbered. The number typically refers to the order in which it was written.

Answer 4

Emily Dikinson did name her poems, one of her poems is named ' Our Little Kinsmen'.

Our Little knsmen after rain

In plenty may be seen,

A pink and pulpy multitude

The tepid ground upon;

A needless life it seemed to me

Until a little bird

As to a hospitality

Advanced and breakfasted

As I of he, so God of me,

I pondered, may have judged,

And left the little angleworm

With modesties enlarged.

This is one of her poems. Plus this is one of my favorite ones. If you want me to tell you another one comment PLEASE thanks!

Answer 5

Emily Dickinson did not title her poems because she believed that the poem's words should speak for themselves without the need for a label or title. This decision also allowed for multiple interpretations and a focus on the essence of the poem rather than a predetermined title influencing the reader's perception.