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How to Reference a Poem Title in an Essay

Whether you are writing an essay about a poet or simply quoting a poem or referring to its themes, you may find yourself needing to reference the poem's title. However, it can be hard to remember whether the title is italicized, underlined or put into quotation marks. Although the treatment varies depending on the length of the poem and the format you are using, you can follow some general rules for citing poem titles in your paper.

Write the title of the poem in title case. All of the words should be capitalized except articles ("a," "an" or "the"), short prepositions ("in," "on," "with," "at") or coordinating conjunctions ("but," "and," "nor," "or," "so").

Put quotation marks around the poem's title unless it is a novel-length epic poem, such as "Paradise Lost" or "The Divine Comedy." In that case, italicize or underline the title.

Cite the poem with a parenthetical citation if you are using MLA or APA format. For MLA format, write the poet's last name and the page number from which you drew the specific portion of the poem you are citing. If you are citing specific lines, include those after the page number: (Frost 16, lines 23-26). For APA format, write the author's name, the year of publication and the page number from which you drew the information preceded by "p.": (Frost, 1997, p. 16). Do not include a page number if you are citing a website unless you are citing a PDF or another website that includes page numbers.

Create a footnote if you are using Chicago format. Write the poet's last name, the title of the poem, the name of the poem's anthology or the website from which you drew the poem, and the anthology or website's editor. Include the publisher, year and location of publication if you are citing a print poem and the URL and date of retrieval if you are citing a website. Place the page number and any specific lines from which you drew the information at the end of this footnote.

If you are citing an epic or classic poem, cite the canto, act and scene or book instead of the page number:

Yeats, William Butler, "When You Are Old," in Selected Poems: Fourth Edition, ed. M. L. Rosenthal (New York: Scribner Paperback Poetry, 1996),14, line 5.

Dante, "The Divine Comedy: Purgatorio," trans. John D. Sinclair (London, Oxford University Press, 1961), Canto XXVII, lines 34-36.

Dickinson, Emily, "I Heard A Fly Buzz," Women's Studies Database Reading Room at the University of Maryland, n.d., http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/ReadingRoom/Poetry/Dickinson/i-heard-a-fly-buzz (accessed April 21, 2011).

Bibliography

Cite the poem in your bibliography according to the format you are using in the rest of the essay. For MLA format, include the author's last and first name, the title of the poem in quotation marks, the italicized title of the poem's anthology, the page number of the poem and the anthology's editor, date and place of publication and publisher. If the poem is a novel-length poem contained within a single volume, cite it as you would a novel.

If you found the poem online, cite it as you would any other website, including your date of access. Write "n.d." if no publication date is available.

Cite a short poem like this:

Yeats, William Butler. "When You Are Old." Selected Poems: Fourth Edition. Ed. M. L. Rosenthal. New York: Scribner Paperback Poetry, 1996.14.

Cite a long poem like this:

Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Classics. 1990.

Cite an online poem like this:

Dickinson, Emily. "I Heard a Fly Buzz." Women's Studies Database Reading Room at the University of Maryland. n.d. Web. 21 April 2011.

Cite the poet, date of publication, poem title, editor, anthology name, page number and date and location of publication for APA format. Cite a long poem as you would a novel. Cite a poem you found online with the poet's name, the website's editor, the name of the website, the retrieval date and the URL.

Yeats, William Butler (1996) When you are old. In M.L. Rosenthal (Ed.), Selected poems: fourth edition (p. 14). New York: Scribner Paperback Poetry.

Virgil (1990). The Aeneid. R. Fitzgerald (trans.). New York: Vintage Classics.

Dickinson, Emily (n.d.). I heard a fly buzz. In Women's Studies Database Reading Room at the University of Maryland (ed.), Selected poems by Emily Dickinson. Retrieved April 21, 2011 from http://www.mith2.umd.edu/.

Cite a bibliographic entry for Chicago Manual of Style as you would a footnote, replacing the commas with periods and omitting line numbers.

Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Classics, 1990.

Dickinson, Emily. "I Heard a Fly Buzz." Women's Studies Database Reading Room at the University of Maryland, n.d. http://www.mith2.umd.edu/(accessed April 21, 2011).

• Daily Writing Tips: Rules for Capitalization in Titles
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Works Cited Page: Books
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Works Cited Page: Electronic Sources

A resident of the Baltimore area, Rachel Kolar has been writing since 2001. Her educational research was featured at the Maryland State Department of Education Professional Schools Development Conference in 2008. Kolar holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kenyon College and a Master of Arts in teaching from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / How to Cite Sources / How to Cite a Poem in MLA

How to Cite a Poem in MLA

When writing a research essay, you may want to include poetry. It can be difficult to know how to cite a poem properly since it’s a particular type of resource that can be found online, in a book, or in an anthology.

This page contains everything you need to know to cite a poem in MLA style within your paper and on your reference page, as well as how to properly quote poems of different lengths within your paper. This page also contains information on creating your citations, formatting examples, and what details you need to compile before you can begin.

This guide follows rules established in the MLA Handbook , 9th edition, but is not officially associated with the Modern Language Association.

What You Need

Before you can create your poem citation, you will need to gather information on your source. If available, find:

• Poet’s first and last name
• Line, page number, or page range
• Title of the poem
• Year of the original and/or source publication
• Title of the book of poetry it’s in
• Title of the website it’s on
• Title of the anthology it’s in
• Name of the publishing company or website publisher
• URL (if applicable – online sources only)
• Editor(s) first and last name(s) (if applicable – anthologies only)

Citing a Poem Found Online 

Since poems can come from multiple sources, there are a few basic formats you can follow to create a citation. The formatting guidelines are different depending on where you found the poem. This section contains the basic format for any poetry you found online, including if it’s a PDF from another source.

Basic format:

Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Poem.” Year of poem’s original publication (if available). Title of the Website, Name of Website Publisher, URL. Accessed day month year.

Frost, Robert. “Birches.” 1969. Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44260/birches. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

• Begin the citation with the poet’s last name, with the first letter capitalized. Follow the last name with a comma and then the poet’s first name, also with a capitalized first letter. Follow the first name with a period.
• Put the title of the poem in quotation marks. Place a period after the title of the poem within the quotation marks. The title of the poem should be capitalized in title case (using capital letters only at the beginning of principal words).
• Put the numerical year of the poem’s original publication. You may have to do research beyond your online source for the poem to find this information. Follow the numerical year with a period.
• Put the title of the website in italics. Be sure to use title case capitalization here again. Follow the website title with a comma.
• Put the name of the website publisher in normal text (not italicized), using title case capitalization. Follow with a comma.
• Put the URL for your web source, without including https:// at the beginning. Follow the URL with a period.
• Write the word “Accessed” (with a capital A, without the quotation marks) followed by the date you looked up the web resource. The format for the date should be: the numerical day, capitalized and spelled-out month, and full numerical year. Be sure to place a period after the year to end your citation. The date should not include commas. So, for example, if the date you accessed your web source was March 12, 2020, you would finish your citation with “Accessed 12 Mar. 2020.” The access date is supplemental and may not always need to be included.

Citing a Poem from a Book

The formatting guidelines for citing a poem from a book are different from the guidelines for citing a poem found online. Note that anthologies have their own citation format. An anthology is a collection of works from different authors. This section contains the basic guidelines for citing a poem from a book. The format for anthologies is provided in the next section.

Basic Format: 

Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Poem.” Title of the Book, Name of Publishing Company, Year of publication, page number or page range.

Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Robert Frost Selected Poems, Fall River Press, 2011, p. 25.

• Put the title of the book where you read the poem in italics and title case, followed by a comma.
• Put the name of the publishing company in normal text (not italicized) as it is capitalized in the book, followed by a comma. This should be in title case since it is a proper noun. You do not need to include the location of the publisher.
• Put the numerical year of the book’s publication (which may be different from the year of the poem’s original publication), followed by a comma.
• Provide the page number(s) for the poem you are citing using “p.” or “pp.” and the page number or page range. For example, if the poem is on page 26, put p. 26. If the poem spreads across two or more pages, use “pp.” For example, if the poem is from page 26-29, put pp. 26-29. Follow the page number with a period to end your citation.

Citing a Poem from an Anthology

The guidelines for citing a poem from an anthology are different from the guidelines for citing a poem found online or even in a poetry book. An anthology is a compilation of different works from different authors or artists. The following format is for poems from an anthology.

Basic Format for a poem in an anthology: 

Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Poem.” Title of Anthology, edited by Editor’s First and Last Name, edition (if applicable), volume (if applicable), Publisher, year of anthology publication, page number or page range.

Drummond, William. “Life.” The Giant Book of Poetry , edited by William Roetzheim, Level4Press Inc, 2006, p. 55.

• Put the title of the anthology where you found the poem in italics and title case, followed by a comma.
• For two editors, separate the names with the word “and” rather than an ampersand.
• For three or more editors, use commas to separate each editor’s name, using “and” only between the last two editors.
• If applicable to the anthology, include the book’s edition (e.g., 4th ed.) followed by a comma.
• If applicable to the anthology, include the book’s volume number (e.g., vol. 2) followed by a comma.
• Put the name of the publishing company in normal text (not italicized) as it is capitalized in the anthology, followed by a comma. You do not need to include the location of the publisher.

In-Text Citations

Unlike the reference page citations, MLA in-text citations for poems are generally the same regardless of the source. The examples below follow Sections 6.22 and 6.36 from the Handbook.

For in an-text citation, all you need to provide is:

• The poet’s last name
• The line number(s) or page number of the poem you are referencing

(Poet’s Last Name, line(s) #-#)

(Chaucer, lines 6-10)

If you state the author’s name within the sentence, you may just include the line numbers in parentheses instead of repeating the author’s name in the in-text citation. If no line numbers for the poem exist, do not count the lines yourself. Instead, include a page number.

As stated by Chaucer, “Thoght ye to me ne do no daliance” (line 8).

Quoting Up to Three Lines of Poetry

Using a direct quote from a poem is different from making a reference to a poem within your paper. To use a direct quote, you must put it in quotation marks.

To quote anything from a partial line of poetry up to three lines of poetry, you can simply use quotations and a “/” symbol to separate the lines, with a space on either side of the slash. Following the in-text citation guidelines in the section above, place your in-text citation at the end of your quote in parentheses, after the closing quotation marks and before the period.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – / I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference” (Frost, lines 18-20).

In Robert Frost’s poem, he states, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – / I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference” (lines 18-20).

Quoting Four or More Lines of Poetry

If you’d like to directly quote four or more lines of poetry within your paper, you will need to follow different guidelines than the ones above for three or fewer lines of poetry. When quoting four or more lines of poetry, you will not use quotation marks. Here are more formatting guidelines:

• In most cases, you will use a colon (:) at the end of the sentence before you begin your direct quote from the poem.
• After the sentence introducing the quote, leave an empty line before beginning the quote.
• You must separate a long quote from the rest of your paper by using a half-inch indent from the left throughout the quote.
• Instead of using a “ / ” to separate the lines of poetry, try to follow the original format of the poem as closely as possible.
• If a line is too long to fit across the page, use a hanging indent, so that the remainder of the line is more indented than the rest of the block quote.
• Place your in-text citation in parentheses at the end of the quote, following the last period (or other punctuation) of the quote and without punctuation after the closing parentheses. If the citation will not fit on the line, add it to the following line on the right-hand side of the page.

The poem describes choices in life by using the metaphor of a fork in the road:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; (Frost, lines 1-5)

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Published October 21, 2013. Updated May 18, 2021.

Written by Grace Turney. Grace is a former librarian and has a Master’s degree in Library Science and Information Technology. She is a freelance author and artist.

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In-text citation for a poem can be in the following format:

• If you are quoting two or three lines of a poem, the quote should be placed within double quotation marks with a slash as a line separator, with one space on either side. (Stanzas should be separated with a double slash.) The quote should be followed by the author’s last name and the line numbers within parentheses.
• If the author’s name is already mentioned in text, only the line number should be inserted within parentheses next to the quotation.
• If there is no line number available for the poem, page numbers can be used.

William Wordsworth wrote, “The storm came on before its time: / She wandered up and down” (lines 11-12).

• If you are quoting four or more lines of a poem, your quote should be an indented block quote rather than enclosed within quotation marks.
• A colon should be placed at the end of the introductory text with a blank line following it.
• The full block quote should be indented a half inch throughout and match its original formatting as closely as possible.
• The author’s last name and line numbers should be placed at the end of the quotation within parentheses. The end period should be placed before the source.

The author was inspired by the lines of a poem: Not blither is the mountain roe: With many a wanton stroke Her feet disperse the powdery snow, That rises up like smoke. (Wordsworth, lines 13–16)

To cite a poem or short story, include the following details: the author’s name, year published, title of the poem/story, title of the book where you located or read the poem (if applicable), book editor’s first and last name (if applicable), publisher name, and page numbers.

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• Writing Tips

How to Quote Poetry in MLA Referencing

4-minute read

• 10th December 2019

Writing about Robert Frost? Scribbling about Shakespeare? Then make sure you know how to quote poetry . This is not quite the same as quoting prose, but the rules are easy to understand once you know them. Here, for example, is how to quote and reference a poem in MLA referencing .

How to Quote Poetry in the Text

The format for quoting poetry in MLA depends on how much you are quoting. If it is three lines or fewer, you can quote it in line with the rest of your text. However, you will need to include a forward slash to indicate a line break (or a double slash for a stanza break). For example:

In “For E.J.P.,” he writes “I once believed a single line / in a Chinese poem could change / forever how blossoms fell” (Cohen 1-3).

As you can see, we also cite the poem after we have quoted it. The citation format here follows standard MLA conventions , but you should typically use line numbers rather than page numbers.

For quotes of more than three lines, set it on a new line, without quote marks, and indented from the left margin (like a block quote). For instance:

The poem ends as follows:

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. (Frost 15-20)

Try to make the layout of the poem as close as possible to the original.

Poem Titles: Italics or Quote Marks?

Another question is how to present poem titles on the page. This depends on the poem’s length. The MLA system suggests:

• For shorter poems published as part of a longer work, use quote marks.
• For longer poems published as a standalone book, use italics.

This applies when you name a poem in your writing, when listing poems in the Works Cited list, and when using titles within citations (e.g., if you are citing two sources by the same person ). So make sure to be consistent!

Poems in a Works Cited List

Finally, we’ll look at how to list poems in your Works Cited list. For single poems published as a standalone book, this is simple: just list it as you would any other book . The same is true when citing a poetry anthology with a single author (though you may need to name the editor, too).

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But for a poem from a mixed anthology (i.e., one containing poems by several authors), the format is like referencing a chapter from an edited book :

Surname, First Name. “Title of Poem.” Title of Anthology , edited by Editor Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page number(s).

Note that we use the actual page numbers for the poem within the container volume here, not line numbers. We would therefore list a print poem in a Works Cited list along the following lines:

Cohen, Leonard. “For E.J.P.” 20 th -Century Poets: An Anthology , edited by G. Edwards, Victor Gollancz Ltd, 2012, pp. 59-60.

For a poem found online, you can reference it as if it were a web page:

Surname, First Name. “Title of Poem.” Title of Site/Publishing Organization , date of publication (if available), URL. Date accessed (if required).

Remember that the date here should be when the poem was published online, not when it was originally written. In practice, then, the Works Cited list entry for a poem found online would look like this:

Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” PoemHunter , 20 Oct. 2016, www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-not-taken. (Accessed Oct. 19, 2018).

If you are unsure whether to include a date of access, check your style guide or ask your supervisor/professor. And if you’d like someone to check the clarity and consistency of your referencing, our expert editors can help .

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MLA Style Guide, 8th & 9th Editions: Citing Poetry

• Works Cited entries: What to Include
• Title of source
• Title of container
• Contributors
• Publication date
• Supplemental Elements
• Book with Personal Author(s)
• Book with Organization as Author
• Book with Editor(s)
• Parts of Books
• Government Publication
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Multivolume Works
• Newspaper Article
• Other Formats
• Websites, Social Media, and Email
• About In-text Citations
• In-text Examples
• How to Paraphrase and Quote
• Citing Poetry
• Formatting Your MLA Paper
• Formatting Your Works Cited List
• MLA Annotated Bibliography
• MLA 9th Edition Quick Guide
• Submit Your Paper for MLA Style Review

MLA Poetry Citations

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How to Cite a Poem: MLA and APA Formatting Quotations

Writing, and all of its connected skills, are essential to succeed in studying — especially humanities. One such skill is the proper use of quotations. To make a quotation means to place the exact words of another author in your essay — these words could be lines from a poem as well.

When to Use Poem Quotes

When is it appropriate to cite a poem? Most often, quotes from poems are used by liberal art students, literature students, and language students. It is hard to imagine writing an essay about a poet without including some pieces of his works, or describing some poetry trend without providing examples. Also, you may find poem lines used in descriptive, reflective, argumentative, and compare and contrast essays.

Nevertheless, even if you are not a humanities student, you are not limited to use poem citations in your works if the meaning of the line(s) you have chosen is relevant. While there are no rules on where you may cite a poem, there are a lot on how you should do it in different formatting styles. Continue reading to find out more about how to cite a poem correctly or simply use professional help. Need help? You can buy custom essay at EssayPro.

To get help from essay writer online , just let us know your requirements and we will create an original paper with proper formatting.

Citing Poem Quotes in MLA Style

The most popular formatting style is MLA (Modern Language Association). Despite it possibly being the easiest style to use, you will need some time to learn all of the rules, and time to train to apply them.

You might also be interested in how to style an essay using MLA FORMAT

The rules of citing a poem in MLA style depend on the citation’s length. Quotes up to three lines are considered to be short, and quotes longer than three lines – long.

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Citing a Short and a Long Quote

Short Quote Example:

In “Song of Myself”, Walt Whitman wrote, “I exist as I am, that is enough, / If no other in the world be aware I sit content, / And if each and all be aware I sit content.”

Long Quote Example:

‍ Emily Dickinson wrote: Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality.

Citing the Title of the Poem

Regardless of the length of a quote, you should clearly indicate the poet’s last name. You should also include the title of the poem if you cite more than one poem by the same author in your work. You may do it in two ways: mention it before the quotation in the main text, or include it in a parenthetical citation at the end of the lines. If you mentioned the name and the title before the quote, but you’re not sure if it will be obvious for the reader, you may repeat it in a parenthetical citation — it won’t be considered as a mistake.

Besides the poet’s last name and the title of the poem, a parenthetical citation should include a line or page number. Here are some brief rules for parenthetical citations:

• If a poem was published with line numbers in the margin, put the line number. Use the word “line”, or “lines”, in the first quotation of your work. Only use numbers in all of the following quotations from the same sources you’ve already quoted.

Example: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” (Frost, lines 18-20)

• If there are no line numbers in the margin, put the page number in parenthetical citation after the poet’s last name instead. Do not use a comma between the poet’s name and page number.

Example: “Your head so much concerned with outer, / Mine with inner, weather.” (Frost 126)

• If you found the poem from a website, or the page numbers are not available for other reasons, don’t put any numbers at all. Leave only the poet’s last name and poem’s title (if required as mentioned above).

Example: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” (Mary Oliver)

• If you mentioned the poet’s last name and poem’s title before the citation (if required as mentioned above), and you have no lines or page number, don’t make an in-text citation after the quote at all.

Example: Here is what Pablo Neruda wrote about this feeling, “I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, / in secret, between the shadow and the soul.”

• If you would like to cite the title of the poem not in a parenthetical citation, but inside your text, there are two ways to do it, and it depends on the title’s length. Short poem titles should be cited in quotation marks.

Examples: “A Book”, “Fire and Ice”, or “Nothing Gold can’t Stay”

• Long poem titles should be cited in italics.

Example: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Because I could not Stop for Death.

• Don't forget to write a full reference for each source you use in your Works Cited page at the end of your essay. If the poem citation was taken from a book, it should be made in the following format: Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poem.” Title of Book: Subtitle (if any) , edited by Editor’s First Name Last Name, Edition (if given and is not first), Publisher’s Name (often shortened), Year of Publication, pp. xx-xx.

Examples: Dickinson, Emily. “A Book.” Emily Dickinson: Selected Poems , edited by Anthony Eyre, Mount Orleans Press, 2019, pp. 55-56.

• If the poem citation was taken from a website, it should be made in the following format: Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poem.” Title of Book: Subtitle (if any) , Edition (if given and is not first), Publisher Name (often shortened), Year of Publication, Website Name, URL. Accessed Access Date.

Example: Frost, Robert. “Fire and Ice”. Poetry Foundation , https://poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-ice. Accessed 28 Nov. 2019.

You may also be interested in how to write a conclusion for a research paper . This information will be useful for all kinds of student papers, whether you need just to cite a poem or write a political science essay. If you need assistance, a political science essay writer can help you craft an exceptional paper.

How to Cite a Poem in APA Style?

APA is the abbreviation for American Psychological Association, and is the second most popular formatting style — used mainly in social studies. Here are some APA rules for poem citations that you need to know from our service:

• For poem quotes up to 40 words (short quotes), using quotation marks is obligatory.
• You don’t have to start a short quote from a new line.
• Line breaks in short quotes should be marked by a slash.
• Block citations should be used for quotes longer than 40 words (long quotes).
• You have to start a block citation from a new line.
• Do not use quotation marks for block citations
• Block quotations should be indented 1.3 cm from the left margin, and in double-space formatting.

If your quote is taken from a book, a full reference to the source in the Works Cited page (in APA style) should be made according to the following template: Poet’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Poem title. In Editor Initial. Last Name (Ed.), Book title (pp. xx-xx). Location: Publisher.

Example: Dickinson, E. (2019). A book. A. Eyre (Ed.), Emily Dickinson: Selected Poems (pp.55-56). Cricklade, U.K.: Mount Orleans Press.

If a quotation was taken from a website, the following template should be used: Poet’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Poem title. Retrieved from http://WebAddress.

Example: Dickinson, E. (2019, November 28). I'm Nobody! Who are you? Retrieved from https://poets.org/poem/im-nobody-who-are-you-260.

How to Cite a Poem in Harvard Style? 

In Harvard style, citing a poem follows a similar format to citing other sources. Here's how you can cite a poem using Harvard style:

In-text citation:

For in-text citations, include the poet's last name, the year of publication (if available), and the page number if you are quoting directly. If the poem is online, you can include the title, stanza, or line number instead of the page number.

According to Frost (1916), "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by" (p. 1).

As Frost (1916) famously wrote, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by" (p. 1).

If the poem has no page numbers, you can use line numbers instead:

(Brathwaite, 2007, lines 5-8)

If you're paraphrasing or referring to the poem generally, you can just mention the poet's name and the year:

According to Dickinson (1896), life is often portrayed as a journey.

Dickinson's (1896) poetry often explores themes of mortality and nature.

Reference list entry:

In the reference list, include the full bibliographic details of the poem, including the poet's name, the title of the poem (in italics), the publication year, the title of the book or anthology (if applicable), the editor's name (if applicable), the publisher, and the page numbers (if applicable).

Frost, R. (1916). The Road Not Taken. In Mountain Interval. Henry Holt and Company.

Brathwaite, E. K. (2007). Barabajan Poems 1492-1992. Wesleyan University Press.

Make sure to italicize the poem's title and the book or anthology title. If you're citing a poem from an online source, include the URL and the access date. Always check your institution's guidelines for citation formatting, as variations in citation style requirements may exist.

Tips and Tricks on How to Cite a Poem

Here are a few recommendations on how to format poem quotations properly. They will be useful whether or not you are a beginner or advanced user of poem citations, regardless of what formatting style you are using.

• Read the whole poem to be sure you understand the meaning of the citation and author’s message correctly. Then, decide which lines can be used as a quote for your work.
• Write a few words about: why you chose the lines from your poem, their message, and what their connection is with your essay topic.
• Do not overuse quotations in your work. You may also paraphrase, instead of quoting, in order to share other’s views. Moreover, it is your own work and you shouldn’t rely on others’ words the whole time.
• There is no need to cite the entire poem if you need a few lines in the beginning and a few in the end. Omit middle lines that you don’t need (use ellipses to point out that you will skip words), or create two quotations that connect with your text between them.
• Use embedded quotes. These are quotes that are implemented as a part of your sentence. You may put it at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of your sentence. The idea is to make it an organic part of your text. Example: As well as Robert Frost, at first “I hold with those who favor fire”.
• When citing a specific source (periodicals or a website perhaps), check the specifics on how to cite it in MLA or another format — as there are some particularities we didn’t have time to cover.
• Together with the final review of your essay, proofread your cited quotes for both: appropriate usage, and correct formatting.

For now, before you hone your professional skills, we are here to help you! Do not hesitate to contact our service, no matter what kind of help you need, whether it's a poem citations or physics help .

Sample on Citing a Poem

How to cite a poem quickly.

Use our professional service to solve your citation issues for good.

How to Cite a Poem in APA?

How to cite a poem in mla, how to properly cite a poem, how to cite a poem in harvard style.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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How to Cite a Poem Using APA Style

Last Updated: December 18, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Michelle Golden, PhD . Michelle Golden is an English teacher in Athens, Georgia. She received her MA in Language Arts Teacher Education in 2008 and received her PhD in English from Georgia State University in 2015. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 164,907 times.

The American Psychological Association (APA) style guide is very popular, especially in the social sciences. If you need to write a paper in APA style, there are a lot of different formatting rules to consider. Citing sources, such as poems, can be one of the most confusing things, but if you follow a few simple rules, you'll have perfectly formatted citations.

Quoting a Poem in Your Essay

• For example, introduce a short quote like this. Frost writes, "Some say the world will end in fire."

• For example, cite two line of a poem like this: "Some say the world will end end fire, / Some say in ice."

• You should not use quotation marks with block quotes. It is not necessary because the indentation signifies that it is a quote.
• Be sure to maintain the same double spacing that you have in the rest of your paper.

Using Proper In-Text Citations

• If you mention the author's name in the sentence that introduces the quote, include the year in parentheses after the author's name, and the page number in parentheses after the end of quote. For example: In his poem "Fire and Ice," Robert Frost (1923) says, "Some say the world will end in fire." (p. 1)
• If you don't include the author's name in the sentence that introduces the quote, provide all three pieces of information, separated by commas, in parentheses after the end of the quote. For example: "Some say the world will end in fire." (Frost, 1923, p. 1)
• Parenthetical citations should always come after the punctuation of the preceding sentence.

• If you are not referring to one specific page of the poem, you may omit the page number from your parenthetical citation, although you are encouraged to provide a page number whenever possible.

• Capitalize all major words in the title of any work.
• Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works (such as most poems).
• Italicize or underline the title of longer works (such as anthologies).

Citing a Poem in Your Works Cited

• Author's last name, Author's first name (Year of publication). Title of work: Subtitle. Location: Publisher.

• Author's last name, Author's first name (Year of publication). Title of poem. In Editor's first and last name (Eds.), Title of book (pp. page #). Location: Publisher.

• In general, if your source does not provide a specific piece of information, it is okay to omit it from the citation.
• Note that when citing multiple pages you should notate it with "pp." instead of "p."

• For a website, include the words "Retrieved from" followed by the full web address at the end of your citation.
• For an e-book, include the e-book format in square brackets directly after the title of the book (for example, [Kindle DX version]). Then include the words "Available from" followed by the website from which you retrieved the e-book at the end of your citation.

• Capitalize only the first word of the title of a book, not every word.
• Do not surround the title of a poem with quotation marks.
• Use the title References at the top of your page.
• Alphabetize your entries by the author's last name. If you have more than one source by the same author, use the date of publication to list them chronologically.
• The first line of each citation should not be indented, but all additional lines should be indented 1 ⁄ 2 inch (1.3 cm) (two spaces) from the left margin.
• Maintain the same double spacing you have throughout the rest of your paper.
• If you are providing annotations (descriptions of your sources), provide them directly beneath your citation, indented two spaces further than the second line of your citation.

Community Q&A

• If you plan on writing a lot of papers using APA format, it's a good idea to buy a print copy of the manual or pay for online access. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• APA is not the only style guide out there, so double check that your teacher wants you to use APA. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Be sure to cite all of the sources that you quote, paraphrase, or even refer to when writing a paper so that you avoid all appearances of plagiarism. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Don’t forget that you will also have to compose your entire essay or paper according to the APA style. This includes using the APA rules regarding line and paragraph spacing, typeface, margins, etc. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://libguides.swansea.ac.uk/APA7Referencing/Poetry
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/quotation_marks_with_fiction.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-poem-apa-format-5072453.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html

About This Article

If you want to cite a poem using the APA style, include your quote from a poem in quotation marks if it's less than 40 words, and use forward slashes to indicate line breaks. To cite a longer passage, begin the quote on a new line and indent it to create a block quotation. For your in-text citation, include the author's name, year of publication, and page number, preceded by the letter "p." When it comes to the title, capitalize all major words, place short titles in quotes, and italicize longer titles. To learn how to include your citation in the works cited section of your essay, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Frequently asked questions

How do i cite a poem in the text in mla.

An MLA in-text citation should always include the author’s last name, either in the introductory text or in parentheses after a quote .

If line numbers or page numbers are included in the original source, add these to the citation.

If you are discussing multiple poems by the same author, make sure to also mention the title of the poem (shortened if necessary). The title goes in quotation marks .

Frequently asked questions: MLA Style

In MLA style , footnotes or endnotes can be used to provide additional information that would interrupt the flow of your text.

This can be further examples or developments of ideas you only briefly discuss in the text. You can also use notes to provide additional sources or explain your citation practice.

You don’t have to use any notes at all; only use them to provide relevant information that complements your arguments or helps the reader to understand them.

No, you should use parenthetical MLA in-text citations to cite sources. Footnotes or endnotes can be used to add extra information that doesn’t fit into your main text, but they’re not needed for citations.

If you need to cite a lot of sources at the same point in the text, though, placing these citations in a note can be a good way to avoid cluttering your text.

According to MLA format guidelines, the Works Cited page(s) should look like this:

• Running head containing your surname and the page number.
• The title, Works Cited, centered and in plain text.
• List of sources alphabetized by the author’s surname.
• Left-aligned.
• Double-spaced.
• 1-inch margins.
• Hanging indent applied to all entries.

The MLA Works Cited lists every source that you cited in your paper. Each entry contains the author , title , and publication details of the source.

No, in an MLA annotated bibliography , you can write short phrases instead of full sentences to keep your annotations concise. You can still choose to use full sentences instead, though.

Use full sentences in your annotations if your instructor requires you to, and always use full sentences in the main text of your paper .

If you’re working on a group project and therefore need to list multiple authors for your paper , MLA recommends against including a normal header . Instead, create a separate title page .

On the title page, list each author on a separate line, followed by the other usual information from the header: Instructor, course name and number, and submission date. Then write the title halfway down the page, centered, and start the text of the paper itself on the next page.

Usually, no title page is needed in an MLA paper . A header is generally included at the top of the first page instead. The exceptions are when:

• Your instructor requires one, or
• Your paper is a group project

In those cases, you should use a title page instead of a header, listing the same information but on a separate page.

When an online source (e.g. web page , blog post) doesn’t list a publication date , you should instead list an access date .

Unlike a publication date, this appears at the end of your MLA Works Cited entry, after the URL, e.g. “A Complete Guide to MLA Style.” Scribbr , www.scribbr.com/category/mla/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2021 .

For offline sources with no publication date shown, don’t use an access date—just leave out the date.

The level of detail you provide in a publication date in your Works Cited list depends on the type of source and the information available. Generally, follow the lead of the source—if it gives the full date, give the full date; if it gives just the year, so should you.

Books usually list the year, whereas web pages tend to give a full date. For journal articles , give the year, month and year, or season and year, depending on what information is available. Check our citation examples if you’re unsure about a particular source type.

In an MLA Works Cited list , the names of months with five or more letters are abbreviated to the first three letters, followed by a period. For example, abbreviate Feb., Mar., Apr., but not June, July.

In the main text, month names should never be abbreviated.

In your MLA Works Cited list , dates are always written in day-month-year order, with the month abbreviated if it’s five or more letters long, e.g. 5 Mar. 2018.

In the main text, you’re free to use either day-month-year or month-day-year order, as long as you use one or the other consistently. Don’t abbreviate months in the main text, and use numerals for dates, e.g. 5 March 2018 or March 5, 2018.

In most standard dictionaries , no author is given for either the overall dictionary or the individual entries, so no author should be listed in your MLA citations.

Instead, start your Works Cited entry and your MLA in-text citation with the title of the entry you’re citing (i.e. the word that’s being defined), in quotation marks.

If you cite a specialist dictionary that does list an author and/or overall editor, these should be listed in the same way as they would for other citations of books or book chapters .

Some source types, such as books and journal articles , may contain footnotes (or endnotes) with additional information. The following rules apply when citing information from a note in an MLA in-text citation :

• To cite information from a single numbered note, write “n” after the page number, and then write the note number, e.g. (Smith 105n2)
• To cite information from multiple numbered notes, write “nn” and include a range, e.g. (Smith 77nn1–2)
• To cite information from an unnumbered note, write “un” after the page number, with a space in between, e.g. (Jones 250 un)

If you cite multiple Shakespeare plays throughout your paper, the MLA in-text citation begins with an abbreviated version of the title (as shown here ), e.g. ( Oth. 1.2.4). Each play should have its own  Works Cited entry (even if they all come from the same collection).

If you cite only one Shakespeare play in your paper, you should include a Works Cited entry for that play, and your in-text citations should start with the author’s name , e.g. (Shakespeare 1.1.4).

No, do not use page numbers in your MLA in-text citations of Shakespeare plays . Instead, specify the act, scene, and line numbers of the quoted material, separated by periods, e.g. (Shakespeare 3.2.20–25).

This makes it easier for the reader to find the relevant passage in any edition of the text.

When an article (e.g. in a newspaper ) appears on non-consecutive pages (e.g. starting on page 1 and continuing on page 6), you should use “pp.” in your Works Cited entry, since it’s on multiple pages, but MLA recommends just listing the first page followed by a plus sign, e.g. pp. 1+.

In an MLA style Works Cited entry for a newspaper , you can cite a local newspaper in the same way as you would a national one, except that you may have to add the name of the city in square brackets to clarify what newspaper you mean, e.g. The Gazette [Montreal].

Do not add the city name in brackets if it’s already part of the newspaper’s name, e.g. Dallas Observer .

MLA doesn’t require you to list an author for a TV show . If your citation doesn’t focus on a particular contributor, just start your Works Cited entry with the title of the episode or series, and use this (shortened if necessary) in your MLA in-text citation .

If you focus on a particular contributor (e.g. the writer or director, a particular actor), you can list them in the author position , along with a label identifying their role.

It’s standard to list the podcast’s host in the author position , accompanied by the label “host,” in an MLA Works Cited entry. It’s sometimes more appropriate to use the label “narrator,” when the podcast just tells a story without any guests.

If your citation of the podcast focuses more on the contribution of someone else (e.g. a guest, the producer), they can be listed in the author position instead, with an appropriate label.

MLA recommends citing the original source wherever possible, rather than the source in which it is quoted or reproduced.

If this isn’t possible, cite the secondary source and use “qtd. in” (quoted in) in your MLA in-text citation . For example: (qtd. in Smith 233)

If a source is reproduced in full within another source (e.g. an image within a PowerPoint  or a poem in an article ), give details of the original source first, then include details of the secondary source as a container. For example:

When you want to cite a PowerPoint or lecture notes from a lecture you viewed in person in MLA , check whether they can also be accessed online ; if so, this is the best version to cite, as it allows the reader to access the source.

If the material is not available online, use the details of where and when the presentation took place.

In an MLA song citation , you need to give some sort of container to indicate how you accessed the song. If this is a physical or downloaded album, the Works Cited entry should list the album name, distributor, year, and format.

However, if you listened to the song on a streaming service, you can just list the site as a container, including a URL. In this case, including the album details is optional; you may add this information if it is relevant to your discussion or if it will help the reader access the song.

When citing a song in MLA style , the author is usually the main artist or group that released the song.

However, if your discussion focuses on the contributions of a specific performer, e.g. a guitarist or singer, you may list them as author, even if they are not the main artist. If you’re discussing the lyrics or composition, you may cite the songwriter or composer rather than a performer.

When a source has no title , this part of your MLA reference is replaced with a description of the source, in plain text (no italics or quotation marks, sentence-case capitalization).

Whenever you refer to an image created by someone else in your text, you should include a citation leading the reader to the image you’re discussing.

If you include the image directly in your text as a figure , the details of the source appear in the figure’s caption. If you don’t, just include an MLA in-text citation wherever you mention the image, and an entry in the Works Cited list giving full details.

In MLA Style , you should cite a specific chapter or work within a book in two situations:

• When each of the book’s chapters is written by a different author.
• When the book is a collection of self-contained works (such as poems , plays , or short stories ), even if they are all written by the same author.

If you cite multiple chapters or works from the same book, include a separate Works Cited entry for each chapter.

If a source has no author, start the MLA Works Cited entry with the source title . Use a shortened version of the title in your MLA in-text citation .

If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author’s name (or the title).

If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don’t need a parenthetical citation:

• Rajaram  argues that representations of migration are shaped by “cultural, political, and ideological interests.”
• The homepage of The Correspondent describes it as “a movement for radically different news.”

If a source has two authors, name both authors in your MLA in-text citation and Works Cited entry. If there are three or more authors, name only the first author, followed by et al.

You must include an MLA in-text citation every time you quote or paraphrase from a source (e.g. a book , movie , website , or article ).

MLA Style  is the second most used citation style (after APA ). It is mainly used by students and researchers in humanities fields such as literature, languages, and philosophy.

If information about your source is not available, you can either leave it out of the MLA citation or replace it with something else, depending on the type of information.

• No author : Start with the source title.
• No title : Provide a description of the source.
• No date : Provide an access date for online sources; omit for other sources.

A standard MLA Works Cited entry  is structured as follows:

Only include information that is available for and relevant to your source.

Yes. MLA style uses title case, which means that all principal words (nouns, pronouns , verbs, adjectives , adverbs , and some conjunctions ) are capitalized.

This applies to titles of sources as well as the title of, and subheadings in, your paper. Use MLA capitalization style even when the original source title uses different capitalization .

The title of an article is not italicized in MLA style , but placed in quotation marks. This applies to articles from journals , newspapers , websites , or any other publication. Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published. For example:

Use the same formatting in the Works Cited entry and when referring to the article in the text itself.

In MLA style , book titles appear in italics, with all major words capitalized. If there is a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon and a space (even if no colon appears in the source). For example:

The format is the same in the Works Cited list and in the text itself. However, when you mention the book title in the text, you don’t have to include the subtitle.

The title of a part of a book—such as a chapter, or a short story or poem in a collection—is not italicized, but instead placed in quotation marks.

In MLA style citations , format a DOI as a link, including “https://doi.org/” at the start and then the unique numerical code of the article.

DOIs are used mainly when citing journal articles in MLA .

The MLA Handbook is currently in its 9th edition , published in 2021.

This quick guide to MLA style  explains the latest guidelines for citing sources and formatting papers according to MLA.

The fastest and most accurate way to create MLA citations is by using Scribbr’s MLA Citation Generator .

Search by book title, page URL, or journal DOI to automatically generate flawless citations, or cite manually using the simple citation forms.

MLA recommends using 12-point Times New Roman , since it’s easy to read and installed on every computer. Other standard fonts such as Arial or Georgia are also acceptable. If in doubt, check with your supervisor which font you should be using.

To create a correctly formatted block quote in Microsoft Word, follow these steps:

• Hit Enter at the beginning and end of the quote.
• Highlight the quote and select the Layout menu.
• On the Indent tab, change the left indent to 0.5″.

Do not put quotation marks around the quote, and make sure to include an MLA in-text citation after the period at the end.

To format a block quote in MLA:

• Introduce the quote with a colon and set it on a new line.
• Indent the whole quote 0.5 inches from the left margin.
• Place the MLA in-text citation after the period at the end of the block quote.

Then continue your text on a new line (not indented).

In MLA style , if you quote more than four lines from a source, use MLA block quote formatting .

If you are quoting poetry , use block quote formatting for any quote longer than three lines.

In the list of Works Cited , start with the poet’s name and the poem’s title in quotation marks. The rest of the citation depends on where the poem was published.

If you read the poem in a book or anthology, follow the format of an MLA book chapter citation . If you accessed the poem online, follow the format of an MLA website citation .

Only use line numbers in an MLA in-text citation if the lines are numbered in the original source. If so, write “lines” in the first citation of the poem , and only the numbers in subsequent citations.

If there are no line numbers in the source, you can use page numbers instead. If the poem appears on only one page of a book (or on a website ), don’t include a number in the citation.

To quote poetry in MLA style , introduce the quote and use quotation marks as you would for any other source quotation .

If the quote includes line breaks, mark these using a forward slash with a space on either side. Use two slashes to indicate a stanza break.

If the quote is longer than three lines, set them off from the main text as an MLA block quote . Reproduce the line breaks, punctuation, and formatting of the original.

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Navigating the World of Poetry: Reading, Writing, & Citing

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: February 16, 2024

What We Review

How to Write Poetry: Introduction to Understanding and Creating Poe ms

Poetry is not something that can be understood after a brief skim over. Rather, understanding poetry takes time and effort, and it often involves reading a poem several times to understand the various layers of meaning. 

Therefore, knowing how to write poetry also takes time, and writers commonly plan or map out a poem before starting to write. This includes determining the message or theme that the writer wants to express.

Once a poet lands on a specific message or theme, they then consider the structure of the poem. What should the rhyme scheme and rhythm pattern be? Should the poem rhyme at all? How long should the poem be? What sort of poetic devices will best communicate the message to the reader? 

Even after creating a first draft, most if not all poems then undertake a rigorous editing process with the intent of “tightening” the text; after all, poetry is about communicating encompassing ideas in a few, choice words.

Defining Poetry: Exploring the Essence of Poetic Expression

The Oxford Dictionary defines poetry as a “literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm”. While this is a fair poetry definition, it feels very rigid, while poetry, when read, lacks this feeling of rigidity.

Rather, within the confines of distinctive style and rhythm, poets are challenged to create something new and fresh, typically formed from unusual comparisons and imagery-rich descriptions in order to represent the message of the poem as intended. 

How to Write Poetry: Tips and Techniques

When sitting down to write a poem for the first time, it is always beneficial to borrow poetic structures or rhyme schemes from other poems. This way, the form of the poem has already been decided for you and is one less hurdle to overcome. Consider the message you want to convey in your poem, and select the poetic structure and rhyme scheme that fits it best. 

Formatting Poetry for Publication: Italics, Quotation Marks, and More

When typing a poem, it is important to follow the correct format. Poems do not need to go in the middle of a page; rather, they should sit flush with the left hand side margin of the page, 1” away from the edge of the paper. 

Additionally, unless your teacher specifies otherwise, you should make your poems single-spaced. Use 12-point Times New Roman or similar font with 14-point font reserved for the title of the poem. Stanzas should be separated by double-spaced lines. Always be sure to check with your teacher or the publication’s guidelines for exact formatting. 

Students may also think that each line of a poem should be a complete clause or phrase; this is also incorrect. Lines length should be determined by the rhythmic pattern and rhyme scheme of the poem. If a student is writing in free verse, words of special emphasis should be at the beginning, not end of lines.

Are Poems Italicized?

Many students ask whether or not poems are italicized. The name of the poem is never italicized since it is considered a short-form work. Only long-form works like books, movies, or magazines should be italicized.

Poems, magazine articles, web pages, or short stories are all placed in quotation marks rather than italicized in MLA format. 

How to Cite a Poem: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you are writing a literary analysis, how do you cite a poem? When citing a poem from a book on a Works Cited page, a poem should be formatted like this: 

Author of Poem’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poem.” Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , edited by Editor’s First Name Last Name, Edition if given and is not first, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of Publication, pp. Page Numbers of the Poem.

However, when listing a poem from a website on a Works Cited page, it should look more like this: 

Author of Poem’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poem.” Website , Date of Publication, url. Accessed date. 

For example, the website, Poetry Foundation , is an incredible resource for finding a multitude of poems. If you referenced the poem, “Ozymandias” by Percy Shelley in an essay, you would need to cite the author’s last name in the essay in an in-text citation (Shelley). Then, you would include a source citation on your Works Cited page like this: 

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Ozymandias.” Poetry Foundation , 1 Jan. 1977, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias. Accessed 6 Feb. 2024.

Discovering Resources: The Poetry Foundation and Poetry Publications

When searching for poems and poetry resources in addition to Albert.io’s wealth of information, Poetry Foundation is an incredible archive of over 40,000 poems and was founded by the American Poetry Association and stemming from Poetry magazine. 

Explore Shakespeare is also a helpful resource specifically dedicated to Shakespeare’s works, including his sonnets. This resource has both a website and an app that students can download. 

Additionally, your local city or school library usually has poetry books or books on poetry criticism available for loan.

Engaging with the Community: Poetry Contests and Events

There are also several different types of poetry contests. Sponsored by The Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud is a nationwide poetry recitation contest for high school students. Students can select a poem from a comprehensive list to memorize and deliver before a panel of judges. 

One of the largest written poetry contests is the National Poetry Competition . Even though this contest is based in the UK, submissions are accepted from around the world and there is a significant cash prize. 

Conclusion: Embracing Poetry in Writing and Research

As stated before, reading and writing poetry are both daunting tasks, but poetry is an art form that is worth our attention. Reading poetry can engage your mind in several aspects at once given the layers of meaning embedded in a poem. Writing poetry can challenge us to write in a way that feels unfamiliar to us and ultimately strengthen our skills as writers. 

If you want to explore more poems, check out Albert’s Poetry course! We offer practice questions with detailed explanations for over 50 poems to improve your enjoyment and understanding of poetry.

Interested in a school license?​

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MLA Formatting Quotations

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When you directly quote the works of others in your paper, you will format quotations differently depending on their length. Below are some basic guidelines for incorporating quotations into your paper. Please note that all pages in MLA should be double-spaced .

Short quotations

To indicate short quotations (four typed lines or fewer of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page number (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the in-text citation, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation.

Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage, but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

For example, when quoting short passages of prose, use the following examples:

When using short (fewer than three lines of verse) quotations from poetry, mark breaks in verse with a slash, ( / ), at the end of each line of verse (a space should precede and follow the slash). If a stanza break occurs during the quotation, use a double slash ( // ).

Long quotations

For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented 1/2   inch  from the left margin while maintaining double-spacing. Your parenthetical citation should come  after the closing punctuation mark . When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)

For example, when citing more than four lines of prose, use the following examples :

Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)

When citing long sections of poetry (four lines of verse or more), keep formatting as close to the original as possible.

In his poem "My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke explores his childhood with his father:

The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We Romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother's countenance Could not unfrown itself. (qtd. in Shrodes, Finestone, Shugrue 202)

When citing two or more paragraphs, use block quotation format, even if the passage from the paragraphs is less than four lines. If you cite more than one paragraph, the first line of the second paragraph should be indented an extra 1/4 inch to denote a new paragraph:

In "American Origins of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Movement," David Russell argues,

Writing has been an issue in American secondary and higher education since papers and examinations came into wide use in the 1870s, eventually driving out formal recitation and oral examination. . . .

From its birth in the late nineteenth century, progressive education has wrestled with the conflict within industrial society between pressure to increase specialization of knowledge and of professional work (upholding disciplinary standards) and pressure to integrate more fully an ever-widening number of citizens into intellectually meaningful activity within mass society (promoting social equity). . . . (3)

Adding or omitting words in quotations

If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text:

If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipses, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example:

Please note that brackets are not needed around ellipses unless they would add clarity.

When omitting words from poetry quotations, use a standard three-period ellipses; however, when omitting one or more full lines of poetry, space several periods to about the length of a complete line in the poem:

When you mention a poem in your paper, do you italicize or underline the name of the poem?

To mention a poem in the body of the paper:

• Italicize the title of the poem
• Capitalize the first letter of words four letters or longer in the poem's title.  

Visit the APA Help guide for other citation questions.

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• Last Updated Mar 03, 2021
• Answered By Patrick Mullane

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Home > Blog > Tips for Online Students > Tips for Students > When To Italicize – The Rules You Need To Know

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When To Italicize – The Rules You Need To Know

Updated: June 19, 2024

Published: June 30, 2020

English has a lot of grammatical rules to keep in mind. From the usage of commas to capitalization, knowing how to write properly is an important skill to hone for those in school and beyond. Whether you are writing research papers or formal letters, you’ll come across instances of italicization. Knowing when to italicize is an important skill to master.

Let’s take a look at how italics came to exist and when to italicize. With this guide, you’ll soon be an italics pro!

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The history behind italics.

Italics is when a typeface is slanted to the right. Like this!

Italics are used to distinguish words from other parts of the text and draw attention. Like underlining, it can create emphasis; therefore, you wouldn’t want to both underline and italicize the same word. Yet, underlining and italicizing may often be used interchangeably.

Underlining was the precursor to italicizing. Once word processors and printers became more sophisticated to handle italics, it has become a popular alternative to underlining.

When To Italicize

With this being said, using italics isn’t always a choice of personal preference. There are rules and guidelines to follow to know when to italicize. Let’s take a look at some of the rules!

7 Rules For Italics

1. emphasis.

Want a word or phrase to stand out in a block of text? Try writing in italics. Example: I went to grab pizza with friends today. It was so delicious that I ate an entire pie. (Notice how you read the word “so” with more emphasis than the rest of the words in that statement).

2. Titles Of Work

The titles of works should be italicized (or underlined). Examples include:

• Books – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Newspapers – The Los Angeles Times
• Movies – The Dark Knight
• Magazines – People
• Plays – A Streetcar Named Desire
• Works of Art – Frida Kahlo’s The Two Fridas
• TV/radio programs – Friends
• CDs/albums – Drake’s Views

3. Articles

Based on the above, you may be questioning, “Are articles italicized?” Articles are shorter forms of work. As such, they are put into quotation marks rather than italicized. For example, you could write something like: In his article “A Mystery Explained” for The New York Times, the author exposed the details of the crime.

4. Foreign Words

If you’re writing in one language but you want to introduce a word in another language, you may consider italicizing it. For example, “The word for war in Spanish is guerra.”

5. Names Of Trains, Ships, Spaceships

Words that are names of transportation vehicles (with the exception of cars) are italicized. For example, the space shuttle Challenger is in italics.

6. Words As Reproduced Sounds

If you want to write out the way something sounds, then you can leverage italics. To depict, “The bees went bzzz in my ear.” This doesn’t mean that you would write verbs that are sounds in italics. (i.e., “There was a loud thud.”)

7. Words As Words

When you are writing a word to use it as a word for reference, then you can put it in italics. For example, “He defined close in context of the situation as being within 6 feet of each other.”

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Examples for when to use italics.

There are various writing formats that have slightly different rules. When you’re writing a scholarly paper, you may be advised to write in MLA format or APA format.

The MLA format may allow for interchangeability between italics and underlines. In the APA format, these are some examples of when to use and when not to use italics — and they aren’t always in line with the examples above. In APA format, for example, you should not use italics just for emphasis.

So before writing any scholarly paper, it’s useful to double check the rules for italics according to the specific guidelines.

Use Italics

• First introduction to a new term – i.e., “ Communism is defined as, ‘ a form of government…’”
• Titles of book and web pages – i.e., “ Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson”
• English letters used as math symbols – i.e., “Solve for the variable x .”
• Anchors of scale – i.e., “Rate your experience on a scale of 1 ( extremely dissatisfied ) to 10 ( extremely satisfied )”
• First use of words in a different language – i.e., “She was the crème de la crème .”

Do Not Use Italics

• For the title of book series – i.e., “the Dan Brown series”
• Punctuation around italics – i.e., “( extremely dissatisfied )”
• Words from foreign languages that are in the dictionary of the language you are writing – i.e., “per se”

Things To Remember

This list of rules and exceptions can feel overwhelming. And there’s still more to learn and remember on top of the points above! Keep in mind:

• Don’t italicize the titles of songs, chapters in books, or poems. Instead, use quotations. For example, you could write: On the Drake album Views, I really like the song “Fire & Desire.”
• Don’t italicize religious texts – i.e., the Torah or the Koran. Instead, these are capitalized.
• Don’t underline and italicize together like this . (That sure is painful to read!)

Although there is a lot to remember when it comes to what to italicize, the good news is that you can always research whether or not something should be italicized online or refer back to this list!

Italics Or Not? That Is The Question

As a student, it’s important to fine tune your grammar skills now so that when you graduate and enter the workforce, you can produce exemplary work every time!

As mentioned, when writing research papers or any other academic paper, your professor will share what standards they want you to abide by. Whether it’s MLA or APA formats, you can look up the rules for when to italicize before and during the writing process.

Then, when you edit, be sure to check all your usages of underlines, italics, and quotation marks to ensure they are implemented correctly!

In this article

At UoPeople, our blog writers are thinkers, researchers, and experts dedicated to curating articles relevant to our mission: making higher education accessible to everyone. Read More

Quotation Marks or Italics In Titles?

| Candace Osmond

| Punctuation

Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond studied Advanced Writing & Editing Essentials at MHC. She’s been an International and USA TODAY Bestselling Author for over a decade. And she’s worked as an Editor for several mid-sized publications. Candace has a keen eye for content editing and a high degree of expertise in Fiction.

You’ve probably asked yourself while writing an essay: Should I italicize a play title or enclose it in quotation marks? What about a song title?

Don’t feel guilty for not knowing the rules for quotation marks or italics in titles . Even the most experienced writers have the same problem.

I’ll show you the basic rules for choosing between quotation marks and italics in titles. This guide features the guidelines of Chicago, MLA, and APA.

Using Italics or Quotation Marks in Titles

Using italics vs. quotation marks in titles depends on your style guide. But the general rule is to italicize long titles, such as titles of books, movie titles, or album titles.

Meanwhile, you must write titles in quotation marks for shorter pieces like musical titles, magazines, TV series, and articles. Note that the AP style does not put magazines, newspaper style, or journals in quotation marks.

• “How You Feel About Gender Roles Will Tell Us How You’ll Vote” is an article worth the read.
• My favorite song is “If I could Fly.”
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation is for readers who want to escape their stressful lives.

Works That Require Italics

Use Italics for titles such as the following:

• Pieces with sections, such as a collection or anthology.
• Some scientific names.
• Computers and video games.
• Titles of newspapers and titles of articles from newspapers.
• Play titles.
• Works of art.
• Court cases.
• Television and radio shows.
• Episode titles.
• Book titles.
• Magazine articles.
• Album titles.
• Names of Ships.
• Operas, musical titles, and other musical works.

Here are some examples of italicized works:

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
• Michelangelo’s David.
• When Harry Met Sally.
• Do you have a copy of Wag the Dog by award-winning author Larry Beinhart?
• My favorite mystery book is In the Woods by the bestselling author Tana French .

The source’s title is usually italicized in a bibliography or reference list entries. But it can also depend on the source type. If you’re citing a journal article, every citation style italicizes the journal title instead of the article.

• Asher, J. (2017). Thirteen reasons why . Penguin Books.
• (2011). When Harry met Sally . Santa Monica, Calif: MGM Studio distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Works That Require Quotation Marks

Use double quotes for the following types of work.

• Comic strips.
• Article title.
• Generic titles.
• Short works like essays
• Short story titles.
• Song titles.

Remember that quotation marks come in pairs, so add both opening and closing quotation marks. Here are some examples where we use friendly quotation marks in titles:

• “Cul de Sac” is a darkly humorous comic.
• “Cinderella” is my favorite chapter title from the Big Blue Book .

Big Things vs. Little Things

“Big things” include a collection of novels or book series, movies, cartoon series, and other works that can stand independently. We can also consider them as complete bodies of work.

Meanwhile, the “little things” depend on other groups, so we put them in quotes.

Think of a “single” in an album title or a “book chapter” in a book title. Another good example includes “manuscripts” in collections.

Remember that this isn’t a perfect rule. But it helps writers determine whether they should quote or italicize the title of a work.

Italics vs. Quotation Marks in Style Guides

The grammar rules on italicizing or quoting titles are usually a matter of style. Take a look at the title formats’ differences among style guides.

In the Modern Language Association style guide, a quick rule is to italicize titles that are longer. Experienced writers state that these “longer works” include books, journals, court cases, etc. Ship names and other notable names are also in italics.

But for shorter works like articles and poems, MLA Style Guide recommends you format titles with double quotation marks.

Chicago Style

The Chicago Manual of Style goes by the same basic rules as MLA. Titles of major works, such as books, and special names like a ship should be in italics. But place the item in quotation marks for subsections of larger bodies like journal articles, blogs, and book chapters.

According to the APA Style 7th edition , you should use italics for titles like journals, magazines, and newspapers. Books, artworks, webpages, and any other larger body of work also use italics.

However, writers who follow APA use the regular type of format for shorter works. These include essays or works in journal articles and lectures.

When to Not Use Italics or Quotation Marks

There’s a specific type of title that all major style guides have no recommendations for. The following do not use italics or quotation marks for titles:

• Commercial products.
• Political documents.
• Legal documents.
• Major religious books or scriptures.
• Name of artifacts.
• Names of buildings.
• Constitutional documents.
• Traditional game.

If you are formatting titles on a website, there’s no need to follow the rules on italics vs. quotation marks. You can go with any more visually appealing style since online web pages are less formal than print materials.

Prioritize the font type, size, and headings when formatting websites and web pages. Make decisions based on what will attract visitors.

When to Underline Instead of Quote or Italicize

If you write using pen and paper, italicizing works can be challenging. Many style manuals recommend underlining the source instead. It’s easier, more practical, and keeps your handwriting legible.

Final Word on Italics vs. Quotes in Titles

An easy way to remember is that most types of titles are almost always in italics. APA, MLA, and Chicago manuals of style recommend italics for longer works.

I hope this guide on using quotation marks and italics in titles helps you become a better writer. 

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Do You Italicize Poem Titles? Tips For Authors

There are rules in writing, in general, which every author must familiarise themselves with.

You may have to italicize movie titles or use other means to emphasize a title. Anyone who comes across the italicized words would know it’s a title. That’s also the essence of italicizing.

Now, here’s the question that has been generating some heated debates among writers

Do you italicize poem titles? 

Yes, you can write the poem’s title in italics. You may also need to underline your title instead of italics. 

Italics are used for long poems. And it’s easier to italicize words when writing on a computer. If you’re writing on paper or marker board, don’t italicize. Underline the title instead.

Is underlining a poem title similar to italicizing it? Yes, it is. The aim of using both is to make them different from the other words. 

 An example of a single but long poem whose title needs to be italicized is  The Odyssey . Other examples include  The Iliad  or  The   Aeneid .

The rule to determine if you should italicize the poem title is the poem’s length is subjective. If the poem is book-length, you can italicize it. Use quotation marks on the poem’s title if it’s up to book-length.   

So, that’s the answer. However, we have more in store for you on this topic. Continue reading to find out.

Table of Contents

When Not To Use Italics For Poem Titles

We have shed light on this topic before, but there’s nothing wrong with revisiting it.

If the poem is a short one, you do not italicize the title. Use quotation marks instead. As a general rule, quotation marks are ideals for shorter write-ups. It’s used for book chapters , short poems, short stories, articles, and essays.

Another reason you can’t use quotation marks is when the poems are not stand-alone. Short poems usually come in a body of work or collection. They come as an anthology or collection of poems.

The same applies to articles that get published in journals. You won’t find chapters of a published work as a stand-alone. Instead, you publish several chapters of a book as a single document.

Why Do You Need To Italicize Poem Titles?

Long before now, there was little, or no buzz about formatting typed documents. Nowadays, we use italics, quotation marks, bold text, and underlining to emphasize text.

The essence of italicizing poem titles is to make them stand out from other texts. With italics, the text becomes different from other surrounding words. Hence, it draws the reader’s attention to the text italicized.

However, italics do not have a very glaring effect. It is subtle compared to using bold text or an underline to emphasize certain words. And because of these specific rules regarding their use, italics still come in handy for writers.

The Use Of Underline In Place Of Italics For Writing Poem Titles

Although underlining in place of italics is acceptable for poem titles , it is somewhat outdated. The practice was common when typewriters and handwritten documents were trending. Then, typewriters didn’t have the option to italicize.

Also, it would not be easy to point out an italicized text in a handwritten document. It is challenging to do so, as some persons’ handwriting appears slanted. With which handwriting, how then can one differentiate the actual italicized text from the unitalicized text?

With the use of computers and word processors, it is now easier to italicize. All you have to do is highlight the text you want to italicize and click on the Italic icon in Microsoft Word. Alternately, you hold down the Ctrl key and press the letter “I” on the keyboard, and the highlighted text will italicize.

Do You Italicize Poem Titles In APA?

APA is a documentation style introduced by the American Psychological Association. The referencing style is common to sociology, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, education, etc.

With the APA referencing style, there is the in-text citation and the one you find on your document’s reference page. Different rules apply to each of them. Another difference is that in-text citation focuses on one work at a time as you write along. It is the reference page that lists out all works you consulted in your work.

If you are using APA style , in-text citation requires that you italicize a stand-alone work title. So, you have to italicize the title of a stand-alone poem or collection of poems.

When citing a poem in-text, the APA format is to write in a round bracket the author’s name, year of publication, followed by the page . An example would be (John, 1995, p.43)

The rule for an in-text citation is slightly different for the reference page. If you are referencing a poem’s title on the reference page, you would also italicize a long or stand-alone poem. The difference lies with shorter poems that are a part of a complete work.

In this case, you would have to write the title of the poem as it is. That it is, it should be in its original form without quotation marks and italics.

Do You Italicize Poem Titles In MLA?

MLA is another citation style introduced by the Modern Language Association. It is a referencing style that is common to disciplines like literature and the humanities.

The style, like the APA , also has an in-text citation. At the end of the document, there’s a comprehensive list of all the work cited.

For in-text citation using this style, you italicize the poem’s title where it is a long poem or collection of poems. When the poem is a short poem and part of a complete work, you use quotation marks.

When citing a long piece of writing, write the author’s name, starting with the last name and the first name. After which, you write the poem title in italics, the city in which it was published, the publisher’s name, and the year published.

When citing a short poem that is a part of a collection or anthology, you also begin with the author’s last and first name. The next thing would be to write the short poem’s title in quotation marks, followed by the collection or anthology title in italics. After which, you add the editor, the city in which it was published, the publisher’s name, and the year published.

Do You Italicize A Poem Title In Chicago Style?

The Chicago style is a referencing style attributed to the University of Chicago Press. It counts as one of the common referencing styles in the United States. This style is also peculiar to disciplines such as social sciences, business, fine arts, history.

The Chicago style does not make any difference when you cite it in the write-up’s body. Whether it is a book, article, collection of poems, or short poem, the citation follows the same process.

An easy way to cite in the body of the writing piece via this style is to provide the author’s name and publication year in round paragraphs.

The distinction in citing different works is only applicable in the Reference List, which comes at the end of the document. In the Reference List, you have to provide the full details of the works cited. So, this is where you would have to provide the poem title.

In the Reference List, the title of books and long works are in italics. So, if the poem is a collection of poems or a single poem long enough to be a stand-alone poem, it must be in italics. If it is a short poem and part of a collection, the title must be in quotation marks.

Poem Titles: What You Need To Know

The title of a poem is usually the first thing that the reader sees. Authors put the title on their book’s front cover, whether it is a long or stand-alone poem. For shorter poems, you will find them at the top.

Since it is the first thing a reader will see, the writer also spends considerable time coming up with an excellent title for the poem. The regular practice is to write the first letters of the words in the title in capital letters. It is only articles within the title that would not appear in capital letters.

In an actual sense, writing the poem’s title is usually more challenging than writing the poem itself. The writer would want to come up with a title that captures the reader’s interest. From the title, a reader should want to read the poem. A poor title could damage the acceptability of the poem, even when the content is excellent.

Irrespective of the style you are using in your writing, italics have rules which you must strictly follow. Firstly, italicize long pieces of writing and put short poems in quotation marks. Apart from these differences, the rule is the same across all styles.

About the Author

CJ grew up admiring books. His family owned a small bookstore throughout his early childhood, and he would spend weekends flipping through book after book, always sure to read the ones that looked the most interesting. Not much has changed since then, except now some of those interesting books he picks off the shelf were designed by his company!

Use of Italics

This page addresses when to use italics, when to avoid italics, how to use italics for emphasis, and when to use reverse italics. Additional cases and examples are provided in the Publication Manual ; users’ most common questions are addressed here.

When to use italics

In APA Style papers, use italics for the following cases:

When not to use italics

Do not use italics for the following cases in APA Style papers:

Italics for emphasis

In general, avoid using italics for emphasis. Instead, rewrite your sentence to provide emphasis. For example, place important words or phrases at the beginning or end of a sentence instead of in the middle, or break long sentences into several shorter sentences.

However, do use italics if emphasis might otherwise be lost or the material might be misread, as in the following example.

Whereas creative self-efficacy typically focuses on confidence beliefs prior to engaging in creative endeavors, perceived creative credit focuses on the beliefs developed after engaging in creative tasks (Ng & Yam, 2019, p. 1146).

If you add emphasis to a direct quotation, place the words “[emphasis added]” in square brackets after the words you have italicized.

Research on creativity indicates that “promoting creativity without attending to the subsequent psychological and behavioral changes decreases rather than increases [emphasis added] organizational performance over the long run” (Ng & Yam, 2019, p. 1157).

Reverse italics

When words that would normally be italicized appear within text that is already italicized, those words should be set in standard (nonitalic) type, referred to as reverse italicization . For example, if an italic symbol appears in a table title (which is also italicized), use standard type for the symbol.

Demographic Characteristics of Study Participants ( N = 250)

Italics and reverse italics are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Sections 6.22 and 6.23 and the Concise Guide Sections 4.15 and 4.16

From the APA Style blog

Navigating the not-so-hidden treasures of the APA Style website

This post links directly to APA Style topics of interest that users may not even know exist on the website.