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[John Ruggero]

I prefer the convention that centers the poet's name below the title, sometimes within parentheses.

[MichelRE]

most , if not all, the art songs in my library (mostly French composers) have the poet's name opposite the composer's, at the same vertical level.
I've never seen a score with the poet's name below the title.

[John Ruggero]

https://vmirror.imslp.org/files/imglnks ... _S._10.pdf

[David Ward]

It seems that both conventions co-exist. Which is used may at least partly depend upon nationality and/or period.

Gould, on page 504 0f her book under the heading Information on the first page of music appears to recommend more or less what I have done, and what Michel has found in French songs.

In the specific case of my Kipling ballad setting, I wanted to give words and music some sort of equivalence (which may not be the same as equality) which my approach seems to suggest.

Having the name of the writer of the words (who may or may not be a poet) in brackets, and sometimes even in smaller type, does not seem right to me. My copy of Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte does not even have the poet's name on the first page of music: that is surely altogether wrong.

Anyway, I decided to do the same as I had already done for my Kipling ballad for the author of a text specially written for my current voice and piano piece: public performance provisionally expected November. (The opening piano bars are a quote, albeit re-notated.)

John: is there a reason other than personal taste for your preferring the convention of having the word-smith's name under the title?

[John Ruggero]

Probably just personal taste. The French style often has "Words by..." and "Music by..." and both of are higher up than usual for a composer name and out of the way of the music, but this requires extra space between the title and the start of the music which might have an impact on the page turns. Putting the poet's name right above the tempo indication seems too much in the thick of it and thus out of place to me. The German style of having it under the title (I see this well into the 20th century, but not sure about now) seems about right to me and allows for a more compact first page.