Mastering Poetic References: A Guide to Citing Poems

When quoting three lines or fewer, keep the text within your main paragraph. Use a forward slash with a space on both sides to show where one line ends and the next begins. For example: 'The woods are lovely, dark and deep, / But I have promises to keep' (Frost 13-14).

If your quotation exceeds three lines, you must format it as a block quote. Start the quote on a new line and indent the entire section one inch from the left margin. Do not use quotation marks. The parenthetical citation goes after the final punctuation mark of the quote.

MLA is the most common style for literature essays. Your Works Cited entry should include the author name, poem title in quotes, book title in italics, editor, publisher, year, and page range. In-text citations focus on line numbers to help readers find the exact location in the poem.

While less common for poetry, APA style requires the author's name and the year of publication. If you are quoting a specific part, include the page number. Unlike MLA, APA does not typically use line numbers unless specifically requested by your instructor.

Always maintain the original capitalization and punctuation used by the poet. If the poet uses unusual spacing or lowercase letters at the start of lines, your essay must reflect those choices exactly to preserve the original meaning.