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How to Cite From a Poem

Poetry can capture the human experience like no other art form. Writing essays in the humanities often entails quoting a poem. Other than illustrating the work of poets in biographical essays, poetry excerpts can also fit into historical or sociological essays, where they can help illuminate the styles, mores and concerns of a society at a particular time. Inserting part of a poem into the body of an essay requires a citation that differs slightly from a book citation. Cite poems using the methods outlined in the widely used academic style guide of the Modern Language Association (MLA).

Instructions

    • 1

      Place the title of the poem in quotation marks. For example:

      The setting in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" reflects qualities of the main character.

    • 2

      Place excerpts of three or fewer lines in quotation marks and within the body of the paragraph. Cite the line number or numbers of the excerpt in parentheses. For example:

      "A woman like that is not a woman, quite" (6).

      When quoting more than one line, put a slash between the lines with a space on either side. For example:

      Anne Sexton sums up society's attitudes towards women who eschew traditional roles by writing, "A woman like that is not a woman, quite / I have been her kind" (6-7).

    • 3

      End the lead-in sentence for an excerpt of more than three lines with a colon. Put the excerpt in its own block of text, indenting the entire block by two tab spaces. For example:

      In a sonnet for the Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus writes:

      (tab)(tab)Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

      (tab)(tab)With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

      (tab)(tab)Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

      (tab)(tab)A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

      (tab)(tab)Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

      (tab)(tab)Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

      (tab)(tab)Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

      (tab)(tab)The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. (1-8)

    • 4

      List the poems cited in the essay on the Works Cited page. Start with the author's last name, followed by her first name. Then cite the title of the poem in quotation marks, followed by the book containing the poem (in italics), the names of the editors, the place of publication, the publisher, the publication year, the poem's page number or numbers in the book and finally the publication medium. For example:

      Silverstein, Shel. "Valentine." The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (ital.). Ed. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 38. Print.

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Poetry

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