The Poetics of the Title in Poetry about Photography

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the issue of the title in poetry about photography. Based on the analysis of Russian, Polish and American poetry the author raises the question of a correlation between the title and the photopoetics, which can be found in the poem, can be triggered by the title or may be completely absent in the text. The title is not an indispensable part of a photopoetic text, since it can only serve as a metaphor, beyond which there is no material artifact or its creation. The title should, however, be included in the analysis of poems about photography in cases where the text itself displays signs of photopoetics, and when its title is motivated by the content. Because of the documentary nature of photography, a reference to a photo (rather than to any other object) is probably most strongly perceived as an appeal to a real artifact. Consequently, the more precise the indication of any accompanying circumstances or depicted objects, the more specific its visibility will be for the readers.