Place the line of the poem you wish to reference in quotation marks exactly as it appears in the original work. If you are citing two to four lines, separate each line of the poem with a slash.
Write the line number you just quoted in parentheses after the closing quotation mark, but before the next word or punctuation mark. If you quoted more than one line, use a dash to indicate the range of lines, such as "(4-7)."
Create a block quote if you wish to cite more than four lines of the poem. Begin a new paragraph and copy the selection exactly as it appears in the original work without quotation marks, indenting each line five spaces from the left-hand margin.
Cite at the end of the last line of your block quote, in parentheses, the range of line numbers you quoted.
Include a works cited page at the end of your essay or article. List the name of the author of the book or anthology in which the poem appears, followed by the italicized book title, the publishing company and the city and year in which the book was printed. See the Resources section for more details on citing full books in MLA format.
Type the lines of poetry you wish to quote into your document exactly as they appear in the original. Place quotation marks around the quoted text.
Begin a new paragraph and indent each line of the poem five spaces if you quote more than 40 words of text. Do not place quotation marks around quoted sections of 40 or more words.
Write a parenthetical citation after the closing quotation mark or, in the case of long quotations, final word of your quoted text. In parentheses, write the poet's name, the year of publication or translation, and the line number from which you're quoting. Each item should be separated by commas.
Write a full citation in a works cited page at the end of your document. A full APA citation for a poem found in a book or anthology begins with the author's name, then includes the anthology's publication date in parentheses, followed by the title of the book, the city of publication and the publishing house. See the Resources section for more information about APA works cited pages.